On Sept. 27-30, 2010, Natchez will be hosting the 2010 Mississippi Recreation and Park Association State Conference. Attending will be over 200 delegates made up of city parks and recreation directors and their staffs, state parks administrators and therapeutic recreation specialists from across the State of Mississippi.

Among the delegates will be city parks and recreation administrators from progressive Mississippi communities who have already brought their cities into the 21st century with the investment of state of the art sports complexes, aquatic family centers and gymnasium/community centers.

Right now, it is our opportunity in Natchez/Adams County to not only upgrade our community’s quality of life through new state of the art public parks and recreation facilities, but more importantly to consolidate all of our city/county resources together for the continued support of parks and recreation for generations.

At the 2010 MRPA State Conference, we will be showcasing in an educational session how the city, the county and the school district consolidated the recreation movement through citizen action, the non-binding referendum vote of support, and through the interlocal agreement to set up the citizen recreation legal board commission.

At the this conference we will also be showcasing another educational session of the amazing citizen driven project to develop a $2.9 million river bluff walking trails and downtown district sidewalks historical trails. Natchez/Adams County is at a turning point of making our community a greatly improved place to live, to raise a family, to attract new businesses, and to create a new recreation tourism market. We should all be very proud of what we are creating for ourselves and for the next generations.

Other cities and counties across Mississippi may have moved forward ahead of us by already investing in new state of the art recreation facilities, but few have consolidated the city and county together through a citizen driven movement for more efficient, smarter government.

This will be the smartest move that any community would have accomplished. It will make Natchez/Adams County an example on how government services can be better provided.

A citizen legal board commission will have the authority of direct management and oversight of the recreation facilities and services. That would be as opposed the current set up of elected, political officials of each board spot managing recreation while at the same time having to prioritize their attention among all of their other diverse government responsibilities.

Our three existing governing boards are now offering us the citizens the opportunity to vote Tuesday to make a decision for a new approach for recreation’s future.

This would be a change from the hands of elected political officials directly managing parks and recreation through separate agencies to a nine-member citizen legal board commission which would have the consolidated authority to plan, manage and operate a combined parks and recreation system.

A “no” vote Tuesday would mean that you are content with the current way that our three governing boards are separately providing parks and recreation because that is way it will stay for the next 30 years or more.

Vote “yes” on Tuesday if you want to see Natchez/Adams County grow into a model community of higher quality living standards.

Ralph Tedder is the director of the City of Natchez Recreation Department.