County crews press on with spring cleaning

We kicked off the week with a proclamation that recognized Aubrey’s restaurant founder Randy Burleson and celebrated his businesses’ 30th anniversary and a hefty donation he made to the Knox County Water Trail.

Burleson opened his first Aubrey’s on Feb. 24, 1992, so Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs declared it “Aubrey’s Family Day” during a news conference at the kayak launch near Powell High School.

In addition, Burleson announced his donation will build an “adaptive dock” at the site, making the creek accessible to all.

The Knox County Water Trail is a 44-mile stretch of navigable water along Beaver Creek that touches five communities between Clayton Park in Halls and Melton Hill Park in Hardin Valley.

On a side note, I want to mention that the contractors we hired to help clear the trail have so far removed more than 500 TONS of debris from the water. That includes 14 tons just last week alone. The contractors are working on the major blockages, some the size of a small house, while our Parks and Recreation crews are cleaning up some of the smaller – but just as crucial – areas.

And speaking of cleaning up things, we’ve had crews at Tommy Schumpert Park removing brush, and we have one crew still out at the small field near the old Melton Hill Community Club.

“We didn’t realize how bad it was out there,” said Jason Halliburton, who is over the department’s maintenance staff. “It was terribly overgrown. There’s a lot of work to do, a lot of trees had to come out – especially the ones on the fence.”

Meanwhile, our carpenters have spent time working on the playgrounds, fixing broken parts; and installing posts at Gibbs Park where some knucklehead(s) drove onto a field and tore it up. The posts should prevent vehicles from entering the area. The carpenters also headed over to Powell Station Park to work on part of the amphitheater, adding a new post and removing some hangers to make it safer.

I want to note that long-time parks veteran Deana Dillon is retiring. She worked with the department for two decades, beginning as an administrative assistant and then moving on to recreation coordinator. Some of her favorite memories are helping to plan events, from retirement parties to Easter Egg Hunts. She was a caring and helpful team member and a great asset to the department.

We planted a Japanese maple tree with a sign for her 20 years of service. As always, it’s not a proper column about Parks and Recreation if we don’t mention our one-man machine, Frank Christian.

Here’s a text he sent me: “Finished drainage work at office, landscaping work at office done for now, new plants in a few weeks. Repainting a trailer, lights and tires fixed, can be used now when needed. Money saved by doing this. New, park signs ordered.”

“He’s been sprucing the place up for spring – a little spring cleaning if you will,” Halliburton said laughing.

Frank also installed signs along the Knox-Blount Greenway on Maloney Road.

Our Concord Park crew, too, has been super busy. Team members placed sand on the CBFO fields, added new facer boards and rubber strips and corners to the dock at the boat ramps, fixed a busted water pipe at the Cherokee Park bathroom and cut a tree and oversaw some groundwork at the Concord Park entrance.

Additionally, they continue to work on the new Beverly Dog Park. As of now, we’re waiting on contractors to pour concrete. From there, we’ll place some benches and garbage cans. So, we’re hoping we will have it complete soon. In addition, our mowing crews are ramping up to start the mowing season next week!

On the recreation side and starting next Monday (March 21), we will have adult softball gearing up on Mondays and Tuesdays at the Sportpark in Karns and running until the end of May.

Middle school baseball is playing at the Sportspark on Mondays through Thursday until the end of April. Youth Soccer will take place at US Cell and Tommy Schumpert parks. Youth Lacrosse is playing at John Tarleton Park.

Additionally, Adult Coed Kickball will play for the first time at the Sportspark on Wednesdays until the end of April. Lots going on! For more information, contact jennifer.gentry@knoxcounty.org.

Enjoy these photos from work around the county: