Bryan County families should look for big recreational gains in 2014, according to County Administrator Ray Pittman, as both ends of the county should get some hot weather relief when splash parks are installed later next summer in Hendrix and Henderson Parks.
“It will give families and children a place to cool off during the hot months,” Pittman said.
The splash parks will shoot columns of water into the air and let users run through them, getting wet and cooling off in the process.
“I think everyone will like them. We‘ll be going out for performance specifications soon,” he said.
In addition to the splash parks, Pittman said plans also call for the expansion of Henderson Walking Trail off Highway 144, tying it into existing trails near the County Administrative Complex in South Bryan.
Pittman sat down recently and listed his other county officials’ top goals for 2014, calling them achievable and ones that will benefit all county residents.
Those goals include:
• The repair and overlay of Bacontown, Olive Branch and Dowd roads, all located in the north end of Bryan County. Plans also call for the repair and overlay of McGregor Circle in Buckhead Subdivision.
• The installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Ford Avenue and Timber Trail Road. The site work has begun and Pittman said the light should be functioning by April. All costs associated with the new traffic light will be around $500,000.
• The county will work in tandem with the cities of Pembroke and Richmond Hill to develop a water and sewer authority, including looking for alternate sources and purification treatment types. That could include looking at, for example, using saltwater after a reverse osmosis treatment process — one where the salt is removed through the use of high-speed filters. Pittman said developing additional water sources will be one of the biggest issues the county and cities will face in 2014 and the coming years.

Read more in the Dec. 25 edition of the News.