Hattiesburg’s first parks and recreation project to be funded by the 1-cent sales tax that passed in April was dedicated Monday morning. Thames Elementary School Principal Teresa Merwin cut the ribbon to signify completion of the school’s gym renovation.
Hattiesburg Public School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Williams discusses the renovations at the Thames Elementary School gym. Listening are, from left, Hattiesburg City Council President Carter Carroll, Parks and Recreation Director Chris McGee and state Rep. Missy McGee.
Mayor Toby Barker stood by city officials, school leaders, excited citizens, and anxious schoolchildren and shared remarks about the first of 17 projects to be funded from the sales tax collection.
“We are joined by Thames Elementary School students who will hopefully find great use of this renovated gymnasium for many years to come,” he said, noting the referendum was approved by 81 percent of the voters.
“Just over five months after the historic vote, we are here dedicating the first project – the Thames Elementary School gymnasium for one of 17 projects that we committed to fund.”
Barker said the school gym was in dire shape.
Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker is surrounded by local and state officials, education administrators and Thames Elementary School students as he opened the school’s gymnasium. It was the first project to be funded under the April 23 1-cent sales tax referendum.
“When that referendum was cast, this school’s gym floor had not seen a resanding in several decades, and it was unusable for competitive sports or community use,” he said. “You can barely get in here to vote, to be honest with you, and then when we were shooting the footage promoting the vote, I had my daughter in here. We could not let her go to the side of the gym, or she would have fallen through.”
In April this year, the citizens of Hattiesburg voted to approve a 1% tax on hotel/motel/restaurant which went into effect on June 1.
Being a shared-use project like the gym is important to Barker, a former legislator.
“One of the first bills I successfully offered was the shared-use legislation to allow for these sorts of collaborations back in 2012,” he said. “Not only do our students have a great place to play, but our parks and recreation department has a quality indoor facility for summer and winter months, which tend to be either really hot or really cold in south Mississippi.
“We can use any season during nonschool hours for sports like pickleball; I’m still learning what the sport is. We can also use it for basketball during the winter months.”
Barker said the city would be announcing more of the projects targeted by the 1-cent sales tax funds in the future.
“I hope that you see that your city government is keeping its word on funding these projects,” he said. “This is your penny at work, making a better Hattiesburg for current and future residents of all ages.”