Parks committee accepts donations and amends budget to buy all-terrain wheelchairs for Peacock Hill Park

The Williamson County Parks and Recreation Committee on April 7 approved a resolution to accept and appropriate $19,791.48 in donations for the purchase of all-terrain wheelchairs and acknowledged a prior $2,500 gift from the Williamson County Library Foundation to support use of an all-terrain wheelchair on the Storybook Trail at Peacock Hill Park.

The action, taken by voice vote with no members recording opposition, amends the 2025–26 parks and recreation budget so revenues for the purchase will come from donations. Staff said the $19,791.48 figure in the resolution was discussed on the record (a stray extra zero was noted and corrected during discussion).

Staff member 2, explaining the record correction on the smaller gift, said, “This is from the actual library foundation, and it was approved last month. But what happened was is we listed the wrong nonprofit that was donating the funds, and that's why... If you look at it, it says resolution acknowledging instead of accepting.” The committee approved a motion to correct the nonprofit listed so the record properly reflects the Library Foundation as the donor.

County staff told the committee the $19,791.48 item represents a single donation from Pam Lewis to fund an all-terrain wheelchair, joining several rotary club donations the county has been collecting. Staff said the county will have two all-terrain wheelchairs available once the outstanding rotary donations are received and processed. “So we will end up with 2,” staff said when summarizing the funding and the equipment count.

Committee discussion also noted that some donations are pass-throughs (rotary clubs routing funds for tax purposes) and that parks staff will contribute roughly $1,500 in county funds to complete the purchases. The committee did not identify any legal authorities or statutes linked to the appropriations during the discussion.

The committee approved both the record correction acknowledging the library foundation donation and the budget amendment accepting and appropriating the $19,791.48 donation. The meeting then moved to other business, including updates on Ag Park operations.