Vicksburg’s ad hoc recreation committee revealed the result of 6 months of work Tuesday night.

The eleven-member panel called for a multipurpose, recreation complex funded jointly by the city and Warren County and governed by a commission to oversee its operations and that of the city’s overall recreation facilities and programs.

About 30 people attended the 1½-hour program. No one from the Warren County Board of Supervisors attended the meeting, bringing complaints from some residents who believed the supervisors should have heard the presentation.

“The next time we go to the polls, we’re going to remember that,” said county resident Tommy Parker. “This board (the Board of Mayor and Aldermen) has crossed over to ask the county to participate in projects besides this. They’ve held out their hand and they’ve (the supervisors) slapped it away. Next year they’ll becoming to us with their hands out. We need to find a way to build this.”

“They need to be run out,” another resident said.

Committee chairman Omar Nelson said a sports complex was a major topic when the committee began discussions in June and was discussed frequently at the committee’s three public meetings at Warren Central High School and in addresses to local civic organizations.

According to an engineer’s drawing from the city’s mapping department, the proposed complex called “River Bluff Park” would sit on a 270-acre tract and feature 15 full-size lighted soccer fields, 16 lighted baseball/softball fields, 10 lighted tennis courts, lighted basketball and volleyball courts, three parks with pavilions, a walking and cycling trail, amphitheater, and a multipurpose building with an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, batting cages, indoor sports and meeting rooms.

No cost was projected in the report, nor a specific location mentioned for the complex. “We’re hoping that by building this park, people will come here to live, we’ll see more rooftops across this county, that people will have a sense of pride,” he said. “We believe we will see more youth in more activities, that they will develop. Even more, it will serve as a crime prevention tool. We also believe it will serve as a tremendous marketing tool for companies that are considering locating to Vicksburg but are not sure.

“It’s an investment in our community,” he said.

“Sports tourism is a big draw for many local communities,” committee member Linda Fondren said. “They’ll be built and planned all around us, and they’ll be built because of the economic impact of athletic tourism spending. There is a lot of money being spent in these local communities, and they are growing from this. I think the City of Vicksburg is ready to take advantage of that.”

“Generally speaking, sports moms and dads are very frugal people,” said Bill Seratt, executive director of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. “But they will take the opportunity to add some entertainment and some education to their visit. We have the perfect product in Vicksburg to allow that.

“It’s time we take what we have and develop the finest sports complex we can possibly afford.”

The construction of the sports complex and the potential of tournaments, Nelson said, will require more attention to administration and planning for tournaments.

“We believe if the sports complex is built, Mr. (city recreation director Joe) Graves will absolutely need additional staff, additional resources — quality staff, quality resources — in order to man a significant sports complex,” he said. “That’s why we believe we should establish a commission on parks and recreation to provide guidance.”

The committee recommended two assistant recreation directors, one to direct the city’s recreation programs, and the other to focus on planning and managing tournaments for the complex. The commission also recommends a marketing and sponsorship coordinator to market the park and coordinate local activities and get corporate and business sponsorships to held cover the maintenance costs for the complex.

Nelson said the county should be a partner in the sports complex, because 65 percent of young people and 55 percent of adults participating in Vicksburg’s recreation programs live outside the city.

“We believe everybody should have ‘hands on deck’ in this process,” he said. “Local government, business and industry, everyone should have hands on deck. More importantly, this project should not go forward unless the City of Vicksburg and Warren County jointly participate.”

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said at the close of the meeting he believes the county will be a partner in the proposed project.

“I’m absolutely, emphatically convinced that when Michael Mayfield, Willis Thompson, George Flaggs, the City of Vicksburg and the Board of Supervisors and all the stakeholders in this community come together …we will have this hallmark for the City of Vicksburg without raising one mill of tax,” he said. “I believe we can convince the Board of Supervisors.”

Flaggs commended Mayfield, former South Ward Aldermen Sid Beauman and former Mayor Paul Winfield “for having the vision” to look at a sports complex.

“They just didn’t have the opportunity to carry it out,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to carry it out.”

The recreation committee was appointed in May by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to examine the city’s recreation programs and present recommendations to improve the overall program over the next five years.

It first met on June 5 and began discussions that indicated a move toward a multipurpose recreation complex
Shortly after its meetings began, the committee developed and began circulating a petition supporting a sports complex and held three public meetings on recreation in August and September in which a recreation complex was discussed. Nelson and other committee members also addressed local civic groups to discuss the committee’s objectives, including a multipurpose recreation complex.

In September, the committee opened a website and a Facebook page to get public comments on a recreation complex, and members toured complexes and talked with recreation directors in Clinton, Ridgeland and Southaven.