Feedback from an Oconee Rec employee I trust

Any rush to judgment on the Oconee Veterans Park gym was strictly on my part, and I appreciate Jared Hightower getting back to me quickly about my perceived imperfections in the construction. Always appreciate getting feedback and correction from our well informed civil servants

Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.

From: jhightower@oconee.ga.us
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:50:29 -0500
Subject: details

Dan,

I was emailed the blog link about your visit to OVP gym on the day after Halloween.  To start - No complaints from me about  it,  because I fought for this country and its freedom of speech  and I cherish that liberty.  Therefore,  I  send this email purely as an informational reason to  help with a couple of details. 

·         According to your blog you arrived at the OVP gym on the day after  Halloween which was a Sunday. Since we opened the gym at OVP in February we have never had a sign that says 8am to 6pm.  Our sign has always stated Mon thru Sat  hours of 8am – 10pm and Sunday 12pm to 10pm.  I am not sure what time you visited and if OCPRD delayed an opening but I am sure about the details of the sign.

·         The missing molding  that you described  was removed because of a design flaw that allows moisture in the building. In some case lots of water  rolls in during heavy rain. The floor is in bad shape as a result. Manufactures'  instructions are that we use fans, remove molding  and other tactics like not putting a finished polish on the  wood  needed  to be in place for a good while until the floor is sufficiently moisture free enough for repairs. Therefore, and very unfortunately the floor has not been pristine in any way since it was installed.

 AAs for not being swept thoroughly  - that's on us.

·         BB Rims and nets – also another manufacture issue – the nets hook different with this brand of goals. They very different from  the normal rim /net hook  that is a welded part of the hoop's frame. These have a plastic tube with fasteners that are inside the hoop/rim  itself. These have been abused by patrons hanging on them and the tube has been damaged. Therefore,  we have exercised patience in waiting  for replacement parts and manufactures manuals for  the goals to deal with it properly. We did  not want to rush to secure the nets with anything that would cause it not to break away  or look aesthetically bad – or in this case worse than it appears now. 

There is a slow process on dealing with each of these but nonetheless,  they have not been neglected.    We are trying to handle the issues safely and according to the manufactures' suggested approaches.  These are actually only a few of the fires we are fighting with facilities but now you know a little more about what is behind some of the things that you saw that day.  No worries from me about criticisms,  as they are tool to sharpen the individual and/or the organization,  but I wanted to share with you about the details in the blog that were slightly incorrect. Let me know if you see something along these lines again. As you probably know already about me,  I'll shoot strait and let you know if we were at fault or if there is a reason behind what appears to be stupid or odd.

 I failed to list the other bullet to let you know that the one of the  main hoops is stored upward  for free play because it encourages full court play  when it is down and that too often has caused patrons to wait for a game verses playing  two games cross court. However, according to our policy  there is supposed to be one main goal down on the far end  so that there can be (3) goals open for free shooting if only one game is running cross court.  That would be our error if they were both stored upward.

Respectfully,

Jared Hightower

Athletic Division Program Coordinator

Oconee County Parks & Recreation Department

Phone: 706-769-3965

Fax: 706-769-3967

jhightower@oconee.ga.us

www.oconeecounty.com