BAKERSVILLE — The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners during its regular meeting Monday, March 15 received a report and a vision for the future from Mitchell County Recreation Director Brock Duncan.
Duncan said holding recreation league sports during the pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges. He and his staff, with guidance from the Toe River Health District, put together a plan for a return to play this past August with the safety of the kids and participants at the forefront.
All games and practices have featured temperature checks for all involved, mandatory masks and health screenings. Additionally, all parents who signed kids up for sports signed a waiver.
“If somebody got sick, they didn’t tell me,” Duncan said. “To this point right now, we’ve had absolutely zero issues.”
The recreation department has already held seasons for soccer, baseball, softball and basketball and is currently offering contact and flag football.
The department has live-streamed all events on Youtube and Facebook and Duncan said he hopes to see the department continue to stream games even after the pandemic as it has been popular with out-of-town viewers.
“You can sit in your living room and watch it,” he said. “The out-of-town folks are loving it.”
Duncan said one of the biggest challenges the pandemic has posed is the quick turnaround between seasons. Revenue is also slightly down, he added, with limited fans allowed at events.
Duncan and his staff have collected donations at games and the department made $3,000 in gate money during the first Saturday of football games on March 13 at Mitchell High.
Duncan said everyone who has come through the gates for games has worn a mask but many of them pull the mask down once they pass him.
“I can’t make them,” Duncan said. “People get mad at us because they have to wear a mask. We’re not in charge of the mask rules. We have had a few issues with that.”
Before finishing his report, Duncan showed the commissioners a blueprint for a new outdoor recreation complex in Bakersville that Cook Engineering recently drafted.
The plan would utilize a plot of land near Gouge Elementary School that Duncan said has portions situated in a flood zone.
In the blueprint, the parcel of land would be used for a pair of recreation fields and three parking areas that would introduce 80 new parking spaces. Additionally, the plans call for the addition of a picnic area, additional bleachers, locker rooms, a dedicated concessions area, a storage building, a pavilion with picnic tables and a splash pad.
In the plans, the playground would also be moved.
The commissioners were intrigued by Duncan’s plan and asked him if he had an exact cost for the project.
“You’ve got a vision here and I like it,” said Board Chair Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff.
Duncan said he would work on developing a total cost and would look into any possible grants for the project, adding that if the county builds a new school in the future, he would also like to secure Bowman Middle School as a dedicated county recreation gym that would be regularly open to the public and would continue to house the recreation league basketball contests.
The commissioners thanked Duncan for his department’s efforts to continue sports amid the pandemic. Commissioner Jeff Harding pointed out that many surrounding counties completely canceled all recreation sports at the onset of the pandemic.
“As a parent of two boys who play in rec league, for us as a young family, that’s a vital part of living in this community,” said Commissioner Brandon Pittman. “I know you guys are there seven days a week. I know the kind of hours and commitment that goes into athletics.”