Tired Creek Lake

CAIRO — Between the stretch of road from Atlanta to Tallahassee, Florida, there are close to 500 different lakes. Grady County is aiming to differentiate Tired Creek Lake from those numbers.

A vision meeting was conducted to garner input for the extensive Grady County project on Wednesday.

“It’s real important that whatever happens at the lake, y’all want it to happen,” said Will Butler, Tired Creek project consultant. “I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

“The real focus is getting your ideas out,” said Taproot Agency’s Tait Martin, who has partnered with Butler on past projects and facilitated the meeting.

The first point of discussion was on activities sought at Tired Creek Lake. Lake Authority Vice-Chairman LaDon Toole said the “obvious” activity would be fishing.

“We need to think about something people can do while people are fishing,” he said, noting a desire to find a draw to bring in teenagers and young adults to Tired Creek Lake.

Lake Authority and Grady County Attorney Kevin Cauley pointed out the legality of sticking to the lake’s main focus.

“The primary purpose of this lake is fishing,” he said. “That core cannot be abandoned.”

Ray Prince, county commission vice-chairman, noted the importance of economic development at the lake.

“We need something to drive money,” he said, noting the debt aligned with the extensive project.

The project has accumulated approximately $25 million in bonds.

“I’m trying to prevent this from being a burden to our taxpayers,” he said.

Travis Bryant, another Lake Authority member, stressed the importance of the county’s “one shot” of bringing in businesses regarding the lake.

“We need to make sure what we are doing at the lake is enhancing the quality of life for the people here,” he said.

Martin raised the question of the importance of the lake being an economic driver to Grady County on a scale of 1-10.

“Twelve,” Toole said.

How to market the lake also was discussed.

“That marketing piece is huge,” Toole said. “You’ve got to have a vision first.”

Butler noted, “I believe if we put together a good plan, the market will respond.”

Another question raised was what would be the differentiation of Tired Creek Lake from other recreational lakes.

“We’ve got an asset and we need to get the most out of it,” Lake Authority Chairman Lee Gainous said.

Lake governance also was discussed.

“Some form of governance structure is going to be very important,” Butler said.

Prince noted governance as a necessity.

Butler raised the issue of trees in the beaver swamp area could pose a challenge in development around the lake.

Water and sewage aspects at Tired Creek Lake were also discussed.

The meeting also garnered public input.

Charles Renaud, a former county commissioner, discussed the possibility of a Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) loan funding sewage and partnering with other entities and counties.

“We can make this whole thing work, and Atlanta pays attention,” he said.

Charlie Norton, who retired from the county commission in December, discussed issues with cutting down the trees in the lake bed.

Norton also suggested looking into the possibility of Grady County selling the lake to the state.

“That’ll be the smartest thing this county could ever do,” he said.

Paul Blough with the Cairo-Grady County Chamber of Commerce noted Cairo is “central” to surrounding cities such as Thomasville, Bainbridge, and Tallahassee. If an abundance of people come into the county, they would have to be sent outside the county for housing, Blough said.

“You’ve got to have a place to put them,” he added.

Following the meeting, Butler told the Times-Enterprise the next step would be to synthesize the information gathered from the meeting and present it to both the Board of Commissioners and Lake Authority at a later date. Butler added he hopes to get direction for the project and a business plan crafted.