The newly created Bainbridge-Decatur County Recreation Authority has quite the task to complete over the coming months.

The Authority, which has three members appointed by the Bainbridge City Council and three appointed by the Decatur County Board of Commissioners, will take over recreational services county-wide beginning July 2016. In the meantime, the group must do everything from setting a meeting schedule to creating bylaws and a budget.

During this crucial planning stage, we encourage the Authority members to research everything they can and then research some more. How do other recreation authorities operate? What do members of the public expect from the authority? The operation of Bill Reynolds Sports Complex transitioning from Bainbridge to the Recreation Authority should not only be seamless, but should improve the recreational services for kids and families in Decatur County.

We’d also like to encourage the taxpaying citizens of Decatur County to familiarize themselves with the Authority’s six members and its role in the community. If there is a recreational activity missing in Decatur County or if you want to see improvements somewhere, the Authority is the voting entity that should be made aware.

The next year won’t be easy as the Authority sets a budget and hires a recreation director (after it decides what that job description should look like), but the Authority has the potential to do some incredible things for the community and the citizens of Decatur County, and we urge the members to remember the peoples’ interests.