Commission adopts Parks & Leisure master plan; staff and consultant flag $12M maintenance backlog and staffing gaps

The Spalding County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt the 2025 Parks & Leisure Services master plan after a presentation from consultant CPL and project manager Cindy Bonacci. Bonacci summarized the plan’s gap analysis, telling the board, “We estimated and, again, this is an estimate that you are around $12,000,000, in deferred maintenance,” and recommending a focus on preventive maintenance, distribution hubs, training and succession planning.

The plan benchmarks county staffing against NRPA guidelines: current full-time staffing is 34 employees across parks and leisure services (23 parks; 11 leisure services), which the consultant said equals about 4.8 FTEs per 10,000 residents. The recommended staffing level is 73 full-time positions (around 9.7 FTEs per 10,000 residents) to improve service and maintenance. Funding options discussed included additional SPLOST allocations, grants, impact fees, a potential bond, or a per-household leisure-services fee. Commissioners noted the plan is an adoption of the document only — it does not appropriate funding for its recommendations.

Motor coach and fees: during the related leisure-services presentation commissioners received a separate operational analysis of the county’s motor coach. Staff presented scenarios including creating a sinking fund for replacement (annual depreciation allocation ~ $52,500) and hiring a part-time tour planner to increase trips. Under the sinking-fund model the per-mile cost to users would rise sharply in the short term; commissioners debated whether the program should be 100% self-sustaining or partially subsidized, and staff were asked to return with options.

The board adopted the master plan by unanimous vote and directed staff to include plan recommendations in the FY2027 prioritization process.