Wednesday, May 25, 2016

EDITORIAL >> Sports, water park opens

The Cabot Sports and Aquatic Complex held ribbon cutting ceremonies Saturday morning, although the water park opens officially to the public on Thursday.

The facilities at 1245 Bill Foster Hwy. were constructed with a $13.5 million bond issue approved by voters in 2013. Residents approved a total of $42 million in bonds for improvements to make their community better.

Saturday’s events introduced the public and several local officials to the facilities.

John Crow, the former parks department director who has been named recreation superintendent in Fayetteville, told The Leader last week, “I will miss working with the awesome and dedicated team we had assembled for the parks and recreation department.

Thank you, John Crow, for your service to the community. Let’s also welcome Travis Young as Cabot’s new parks director, who is certain to carry on Crow’s legacy.

Young is taking on not only the completion of the sports complex and the aquatic park but is now overseeing $5.5 million expansion of the Veterans Park Community Center.

“The finishing of the current projects will be seamless transition due to the fact that I’m very familiar with the contractors, architects and engineers,” Young said during an interview with The Leader.

“I believe that Cabot has a lot to offer. The citizens stand behind all the parks and the programs. I’m very excited about the future. Our previous parks director John Crow has done a great job getting us to where we’re at today. I would like to continue that process moving forward,” Young said.

“My vision for parks and recreation is to provide services to the citizens and community at Cabot. What we provide is what the citizens want,” Young said.

“People are going to say, ‘Wow! That is what we want to do. We want this facility to look new for years to come,’” Young said.

Thanks also to Mayor Bill Cypert, the Cabot City Council and the Cabot Parks and Recreation Commission for their forward-looking agenda. They have invested in their community, which will reap the benefits for decades to come.

See you at the pool Thursday!