Toccoa Commission Backs Effort to Keep Stephens County Park Open

The Toccoa City Commission unanimously directed staff on Dec. 9, 2013, to draft a resolution supporting efforts to keep Stephens County Park open, responding to resident Jeanette Jamieson’s request that the city oppose a proposed closure by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The action put Toccoa formally alongside residents seeking to preserve a public park in Stephens County, but its scope was limited. A municipal resolution can express the city’s position and lend support to an effort, while the decision described by Jamieson involved the Corps of Engineers; the commission’s vote did not itself determine whether the park would stay open.

The issue reached the commission after Jamieson asked city officials to oppose the proposed Corps closure. Commissioners then acted unanimously on a motion to have a resolution drafted in support of keeping the park open, creating a path for the city to state its position more formally rather than immediately adopting a completed resolution at that meeting.

Jamieson pressed the city to resist the proposed closure, while the commission’s unanimous action indicated support for continued operation of the park. The meeting minutes identify the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the agency connected to the proposed closure, but they do not include the Corps’ explanation, a response from the agency, or the text of any final city resolution.

What is confirmed is the Dec. 9 instruction to draft a resolution. The minutes do not establish that staff completed a draft, that commissioners later adopted a resolution, that Toccoa sent one to the Corps, or that the proposed closure was withdrawn or carried out. Those distinctions leave both the city’s follow-through and the park’s outcome unresolved in this account.

The next public sign of progress would be a later Toccoa commission agenda, meeting record or resolution showing that the draft returned for consideration, was adopted or was transmitted to the Corps. Until then, residents can accurately describe the Dec. 9 action as unanimous support for drafting a resolution to keep Stephens County Park open—not as proof that a final resolution took effect or that the closure was prevented.