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Cherokee County Community Services Director presents 2024 annual report; transit and parks highlight growth
Summary
Community Services Agency Director Brian Reynolds told commissioners the agency expanded transit and recreation services in 2024, citing nearly 58,000 CATS trips, rapid microtransit growth and plans for two new parks and a new CATS facility funded largely by FTA and grants.
Brian Reynolds, director of Cherokee County’s Community Services Agency, presented the department’s 2024 annual report at the board’s July 15 work session, outlining growth across transit, parks, recycling and senior services.
Reynolds said Cherokee Area Transit Service (CATS) recorded “nearly 58,000 trips” in 2024 and that the department’s microtransit program — an app-based demand-response service launched in January 2024 — grew from under 3,800 fixed-route trips in 2023 to more than 12,200 microtransit trips last year. “It’s much, much more efficient,” Reynolds said of the microtransit model, noting the program reduced miles driven while carrying more riders.
He told the board the county’s current transit fleet totals 25 vehicles, including seven propane-powered units, and that the new CATS headquarters site work is underway. Reynolds said the headquarters project is about 80% funded by the Federal Transit Administration and that permitting and bidding would follow, with construction expected to begin in the fall.
On parks and recreation, Reynolds highlighted a busy events calendar and tournament hosting: the county’s athletics and aquatics teams ran about 106 tournaments and meets in 2024. He also announced permits are now in place for Yellow Creek conservation area trail work and for Woodworth Park in southwest Cherokee, with construction bids expected this fall and ribbon cuttings anticipated next year.
Reynolds described recycling and senior-services figures: the county’s recycling center at Blalock Road had over 79,000 visits in 2024 and the county provided about 51,000 Meals on Wheels deliveries last year. He credited nonprofit partners such as Keep Cherokee Beautiful and Stand Up for Seniors for supplementing county services, saying Stand Up for Seniors contributed nearly $320,000 in support last year.
On funding, Reynolds said most of the Community Services divisions are financed largely by grants, fees and charges. He gave a topline figure for fiscal-year 2025 operations for the departments covered in his presentation of “a little less than $6,000,000,” which he said represents about 4.5% of the county’s roughly $130,000,000 general fund.
The report closed with recognition of staff transitions and leadership changes in senior services and recycling, and Reynolds invited questions from the board and said staff would provide more detailed materials if commissioners wanted further data.
Reynolds’s presentation is scheduled to be available in the board’s meeting packet for the evening session.
Ending: The board did not take any formal action on the annual report at the work session; commissioners thanked staff and moved on to other agenda topics.
