Officials, residents discuss proposed water park entry fee

Published 1:25 pm Thursday, July 17, 2025

What amount should Baldwin County officials charge for admission into the new water park that will open at Walter B. Williams Jr. Recreation Park next year?

That question has surfaced at meetings of late.

The topic arose during a joint meeting of officials with the Baldwin County Board of Education, Baldwin County Board of Commissioners and Milledgeville City Council. 

County Manager Carlos Tobar said an admission fee of $10 had been recommended be charged for admission.

That same figure was mentioned again at a recent county commission work session.

The meeting centered on recreation department policies and possible changes.

“I’d like to make a recommendation at this point that if we have people in the audience that would like to speak to these policies they would be welcomed to do so, but I’ve discussed with other commissioners and it’s my recommendation that we basically discard these policies and start all over,” said commissioner Sammy Hall. “There’s so many issues with these particular policies that have not been addressed appropriately.”

He said policies were needed but he didn’t think what was proposed would be what the county would adopt.

“And I don’t want to waste everybody’s time talking about something that’s not going to come into fruition,” Hall said.

Commission chairman Andrew Strickland said many of the policies deal with sports organizations that no longer exist.

“This is what I’ve discovered through our discussions,” Strickland said. “There was a time when a lot of organizations kind of ran their own thing, like baseball was handled by an organization and they collected money on it, so based on those organizations running those sports and collecting money, the county drafted a policy that said everyone should be transparent about how the money was spent and where it was going.”

Strickland said the existing policies fall short of what he would like to see.

“What I’d like to see is the recreation committee dig into this and get more input from stakeholders, whether its pickleball, softball, baseball, soccer or football, and figure how we can best serve the public through a set of policies and make sure [recreation director] Traci [Bowden] can execute those policies,” Strickland said.

“The only comment that I have is that when we do go over these rec policies is that everyone that’s at a higher level at the rec department is here at the meeting,” said commissioner Emily C. Davis.

Cynthia Ward-Edwards, president of the Baldwin County Chapter of the NAACP, was among the residents who shared concerns about the proposed $10 water park admission.

“I’ve spoken with chairman Strickland about this,” Ward-Edwards said. “Over a decade ago when our community lost its pool, the commissioners took an important step in forming a committee and I want to thank you, sir, because I think you chaired that when you were chairman of the county commission.”

She was referring to former commissioner Henry Craig, who addressed other recreational concerns, including user fees for playing pickleball on the new courts earlier in the meeting.

Ward-Edwards said she was proud to be a part discussions about building the new water park.

“At that time, we made a clear commitment to the public that any new pool be affordable and accessible to all,” Ward-Edwards said. “Now as we (near) the completion of new aquatic center, we are truly grateful for the progress that has been made through this board. However, a growing concern has emerged to residents about accessibility of the new facility, in particularly the cost.”

She said she would like to know how the proposed admission fee was devised.

“I’ve done some research myself on some of the surrounding aquatic pools here in Georgia,” Ward-Edwards said. “And they range anywhere from about $6 to about $12.

“Is it all-day, and what age group and things of that nature?” she asked.

Ward-Edwards worked at the county recreation department for several years.

“I’m just standing in the gap for the community when it comes to this fee about $10,” Ward-Edwards said. “That was a major issue in reference to the pool.”

Commissioner Scott Little said the figure was borrowed from Dublin.

“That’s what they were charging having been a few years into it, realizing the previous commission had it dialed in as to what the cost would be. Since our facility mirrored theirs, I would assume that was the starting point,” Little said.

Laurens County currently charges an admission fee of $12 per person.

Baldwin County Assistant Manager Dawn Hudson said that was the starting point.

“The facility was designed after Dublin’s,” Hudson said.

She pointed out that the $10 admission fee and other recreation policies have not yet been.

“Those are things that have been discussed, and I think if you all recall, they were presented to you all and I think you sent them back to staff to review and make some revisions,” Hudson said.

Ward-Edwards said every county’s economic demographics are different.

She said she understood that there are costs in operating a water park and things that have to be done from logistically.

“I do understand, but if we could just work with that price just a little bit,” she said. “I don’t know how we can.”