By james art 
Central Mayor Wade Evans says the city is looking into managing its parks because officials are unhappy with BREC’s management of them.
“I haven’t been happy in a while,” says Evans Daily report. “I testified in the state a few years ago when Sen. (Bodie) White had a bill to break away from BREC, but I believe we can operate and provide better services locally more efficiently and cost-effectively.”
Evans says solution options include a complete separation or a joint effort agreement.
The mayor says he had unproductive conversations with BREC Chief Cory Wilson. Any move to break away from the BREC system would require legislation. Evans says a final decision won’t be made until February.
“I’m not going to take anything off the table, but I can assure you we’re not happy,” he says.
He cites the failure to maintain the baseball fields and lock the parks at night as two reasons for wanting to branch out.
“The management of the sports park they built wasn’t great, and they gave us a bad name in the summer when they rented that tournament complex for a week-long tournament and didn’t have a proper bathroom,” says Evans. “It made Central look bad because it said ‘Central Sports Park.'”
The tournament was eventually moved to Livingston Parish.
If Central were in charge of its own parks, Evans says it would operate like the city. Independent contractors will be hired for the various services required, such as building maintenance and lawn mowing.
White filed a bill in 2021 to create independent park systems in the cities of Central and Zahari and at that time for the future city of St. George after it was incorporated. The bill would have affected 50 of the 180 parks in the BREC system and reduced BREC’s revenue by about 30%.
“We’re looking at all our options,” says Evans. “I think the city can and should manage the parks in our city because we can do it in a more efficient way that is beneficial to our citizens.”