Fentress County dividing around $68,000 in remaining Allred funds equally between emergency radio improvements and two county-owned parks.
Fentress County Finance Director Tyler Arms said the committed account held $68,007 at the end of the fiscal year. Arms said the decision to split the money three ways followed discussions about addressing community recreation needs and emerging issues with the county radio system.
“It came down to I felt like the fairest way without an amount listed was just split it equally among the three,” Arms said.
The funding will be shared by Kirby Johnson Ballpark and South Fentress Park in Clarkrange.
“One is, of course, a ballpark, primarily focused around baseball,” Arms said. “The other one is a more traditional park with fields, it has baseball fields as well, it has an amphitheater and some rental pavilions and things like that, walking track, some things like that for it.”
The radio portion of the funding will support a system used by the Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department, Rescue Squad, and EMS. Arms said the county is currently assessing multiple options for the radio system and expects to hold an in-depth meeting on October 5 to discuss the next steps.
“Hopefully they can come together and get a solid plan to move forward and get some communications back throughout our county for emergency services,” Arms said.
Potential park improvements include field work and the installation of covered bleachers. Arms said the ballpark has specifically discussed covering bleachers to protect spectators from pop flies coming from adjacent fields.
“I don’t know that any project’s ever complete no matter how much money you throw at it, there’s always something that’s going to come up and you want to tackle and do more and provide more,” Arms said. “But it would be able to tackle most of the projects probably that I’ve heard of from the parks outside of lighting, which is a large expense.”
Arms said the Allred funding will not be enough to fully complete the radio project regardless of which direction the county chooses. The final cost of the communication upgrades will depend on the specific plan approved by the commission and emergency department heads.
“I think that the direction we’re going is definitely going to satisfy some needs that we have within the county,” Arms said.
