THOMASVILLE — Thomasville will conduct a review of all its parks as part of a parks and recreation master plan.

City council members approved a contract with Brandstetter Carroll Inc. to conduct a master plan for the city’s parks that will serve the city for the next five to 10 years. 

Though BCI was the highest bidder, city planner Kenny Thompson said the bid review committee gave the firm its highest marks.

“They are highly trained and competent professionals with national experience,” he said. 

The goal of the master plan, Thompson said, is to develop a system-wide plan in establishing a shared and defined vision, driven by community input, for all the city’s parks. The city has 22 parks. 

BCI, under its contract, will assess all current conditions of the city’s parks, along with an inventory of its facilities. The firm also will look at parks’ connectivity, proximity and accessibility.

After that, the firm will move into a needs assessment and get public input to identify unmet and future needs of park system. They also will prioritize park improvements and identify any staffing or needs challenges that are expected to happen in the years to come. 

Council members Todd Mobley and Wanda Warren served on the committee and both came away impressed with BCI.

“When we ranked them, BCI was number one,” Mobley said at a recent workshop. “We felt like, and me and Mrs. Warren both agreed, with this type of project, we need to spend the time to do it right. We wanted to make sure we put the time in to get this project right.”

Added Warren, “In our interviews, we felt as a team BCI had more experience. They understood our city better. We know this project is a special project for our whole city. We wanted to get the best team in here. I felt they understood our city and its uniqueness.” 

Thompson also said the number of hours BCI committed to spend was double that of any of the other firms’ proposals. After requests for proposals went out, four bids were submitted and the top three were chosen and a seven-member committee reviewed each bid. 

BCI’s work is expected to be completed in March or April 2022.

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.