Commissioners OK Purchase of New Playground Equipment for Henderson Falls, Emory Johnson Parks

Local Youth will once again have access to city-owned outdoor recreation opportunities following a vote by city commissioners at last night’s Toccoa City Commision meeting. 

At the Commission work session at 3 p.m., Commissioners and staff discussed options of equipment and groundcovers for the playground at Henderson Falls Park, located on Henderson Falls Road in North Toccoa, and at Emory Johnson Park, located on West Whitman Street in the downtown district. 

Playground equipment at both parks have recently been removed as a safety measure due to the age and condition of the equipment. Funding for swings at Emory Johnson Park has already been included in the budget, and yesterday, commissioners voted unanimously to fund new playground equipment at the amount of $45,000 for each park out of the Commission Reserve Account, or CRA.

City commissioners instituted the CRA in 2008 as an ongoing reserve account for unexpected and emergency expenditures, setting the goal of maintaining roughly $2 million dollars in reserve.

Although the CRA balance has lately dipped slightly below the $2 million benchmark, with a balance of $1.8 million in April, City Finance Director Becky Bohannon advised commissioners that two unexpected sources of revenue into the fund has reduced that shortfall.

Work is expected to begin shortly on the playgrounds and will take approximately 6 weeks, with anticipated opening before mid-summer.