Today at 5:30 the Columbia County commissioners have Rum Island Park on the agenda. Please come and tell them how you use the park and how you would like the park to be. The information below is from Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson who has been communicating with the county regarding the future of the park.
5:30p.m. in the Columbia County School Board Administrative Complex Auditorium, 372 West Duval Street, Lake City, Florida 32055,
TONITE. The Rum Island Park workshop that the county promised us back in May 2018 is tonite at 5:30 pm in Lake City at the School Board auditorium on HWY 90, downtown.
I have been requesting a workshop to help this County Commission understand how we use the park in the southern end of Columbia County.
While there is nothing in the agenda packet online.
We have this information that came from a packet about Rum Island from Kris Eskelin, one of our members.
The document lists 4 options for management of the park:
1. privatize
2. state owned, (not viable)
3. charge admission
4. Let volunteer group maintain it and advise county of maintenance issues.
These are the choices they plan to discuss tomorrow night.
This Friends of Rum Island Park began earlier this year after another heated Commissioner meeting in which a boy scout came to the board to tell them how bad our park was and how something needed to be done.
There have been many contentious discussions about this free county park which has never had a staffer.
We need people to attend this “workshop” to tell the commissioner how you use this park.
We love our park and want to have a voice at the table as to what happens to it at the county level.
Please attend. Family friendly event, just like our park.
