By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Members of the Grayson Tourism Commission attended a special Grayson City Council budget workshop last Tuesday, May 6. Commissioners discussed the opening left by former sports park manager Grant Harper, and informed the council that Harper’s position had only been partially filled. The reason for this, they explained, was that the former manager had by default filled many positions at the sports park, and the tourism commission was working on a list of duties and expectations for Harper’s replacement.
The commissioners also discussed the tourism budget for the upcoming year, which is also part of the City of Grayson’s budget. The tourism commission’s estimated budget is $226,000.00, with some reductions due to cancelled contracts. Commissioner Deana Miller also discussed a part-time accountant for the commission and other routine expenses, and told the city council that tourism was working toward creating a redundancy or backup so that losing one employee in the future would not create a problem in day-to-day operations.
Miller also updated the council on plans for the Blue Goose building. The tourism commission is still waiting until after the Memorial Day holiday to even take bids on the demolition of the building, and are still discussing whether it is possible to use some of the funds that were intended to go to remodeling on the demolition. The plan is still to demolish the building and reclaim the land as a green space temporarily until the next viable plan is made.
Grayson Mayor Troy Combs mentioned to the commissioners present that he had entertained the idea of the city and city tourism collaborating on possible uses for the current city building. Combs and the council had discussed in a previous meeting the possibility of renovations versus rebuilding, but the city had planned to have the building inspected by an engineer for the viability of either plan before moving forward. Combs said it was just an idea to consider, and not necessarily a recommendation.
Council also discussed the 2025–26 budget for the Grayson Fire Department. The total expenditures for the department were reported at $575,852 and the budget was reported at $538,352. This does not include any expenses that could be incurred for repairs to the tank truck, because there have been no repair estimates turned into the fire department at this time.
Councilwoman Jennifer McGlone pointed out that there needed to be something listed in the budget, even if the figure was only an estimate, because it is a known issue that would have to be dealt with most likely in the near future. Mayor Combs recognized that there was money in the fire department budget under maintenance, but that the repair figure on the truck might exceed that amount.
Typical budget items for the fire department include the mentioned maintenance, equipment, and firefighter’s expenses. It also covers insurance claims/costs, fuel, various supplies, training, and utilities. The current year budget has not yet been finalized, nor have the budgets for other city departments, and the work session meeting on May 6 was designed to discuss what projected expenses are for the coming year before the budget is set and voted on.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
