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The Troup County Parks and Recreation Department hopes to make improvements to the Mike Daniel Recreation Center, as well as the gymnasium facility at Whitesville Road Elementary School, in the coming months.

Department leadership discussed their renovation plans at the Troup County Board of Commission Tuesday work session to request capital funds totaling $53,650 for renovations to both the Mike Daniel Recreation Center and the WRES gymnasium. The board approved the request at its regular Tuesday night.

The funds will be used to renovate several areas of the center that are declining due to age and the gym’s floor, explained Lance Dennis, director of the Troup County Parks and Recreation Department.

Updates include painting the Mike Daniel Center’s main hallways, locker rooms and meeting rooms, re-styling its front counters, replacing its carpet in the meeting room, replacing its nearly 20-year old lockers and repairing the hockey room floor. 

Some of the proposed renovations are to amend potential safety issues, said JJ Kuerzi, facilities manager for the parks and recreation department. The WRES gym floor, for example, has a buckle running through it, making it unstable to play on. The department has plans to utilize the gym more while renovations are ongoing at the Griggs Center and currently uses it for activities like youth basketball practice.

Kuerzi said the department additionally plans to place a mural on the front hall wall of the Mike Daniel Center. The plan for the mural, which Kuerzi noted is still in the early stages, would be in a “postcard” art style, read TROUP, and include destinations in the county such as the Callaway clock tower and Charlie Joseph’s. The mural’s cost would be between $7,000 and 8,000.

Commissioner Ellis Cadenhead asked if some of the renovation costs could come from the Troup County Recreation Endowment Fund, which was established to cover the cost of minor projects for the recreation department. According to the county’s FY22 budget documents, the fund currently has $35,000 budgeted in it.

County Manager Eric Mosley said the bulk of the requested funds would come from the capital sales funds and potentially from the county’s received American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Dennis noted both facilities’ importance due to the Mike Daniel Center being the department’s main source of revenue.

“We do have annual members who pay memberships, and they have certain expectations,” he said. “The Mike Daniel Center is the main touching point for most, if not all citizens in Troup County. All our registrations, sports programs, activities, everything comes through there.”