MITCHELL COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - In May of this year, the City of Camilla laid out a six-year plan that will allow them to complete more than $2 million of top priority projects.
Officials say they will use $1 million out of that plan to build a new Aquatics Center for the community.
Interim City Manager Steve Sykes says for a place that doesn't have a community pool or a place for kids to learn how to swim, it was a top priority for them to start the developmental of this new center.
Sykes says Camilla for several years now has been contemplating participating in an aquatics center because there is no public swimming pool available for people in the community to use.
The city had a community pool many years ago but that went away. And to date, there's still nowhere in the city for people to swim. This has been a major concern for people in the community like Pastor Roger Spicer, who says kids could drown without having a place to practice.
But city leaders now have a solution and allocated $1 million in SPLOST funds to building an aquatics center.
The City Council has decided to work with the Mitchell County School System to provide kids with an outlet to have fun, but most importantly train them to be safe swimmers.
Sykes says they would help build the facility and the school system will manage and operate it. And Pastor Spicer says this new center could be that outlet to keep kids out of trouble.
The city will hold several public hearings for the community to look at proposals and help decide where this new aquatics center should be. Those town halls meetings are set to be scheduled within the next 30 days.
