Rec District
candidates agree on priorities
By GREG
MOORE
Express Staff Writer
Both
candidates for the one contested seat on the Blaine County Recreation
District’s Board of Directors said they support the district’s
10-year recreation facilities plan.
Leslie
Fairbrother
Leslie
Fairbrother and Steve Keefer are running for the seat representing
Subdistrict 1, which includes most of the area south of Fox Acres Road
and east of Highway 75 to Bellevue, and then all of the county south of
there.
Tim
Hamilton is the only candidate for Subdistrict 2, which includes most of
the area from Fox Acres Road north to East Fork Road.
The
candidates must be residents of those districts, but all county voters
choose candidates for both seats.
During
the Pizza and Politics night on Oct. 16, Fairbrother and Keefer both
emphasized their commitment to improving recreation opportunities in
Blaine County. Both said their first priority on the board would be
construction of a community recreation center in Hailey. At a projected
cost of $4.6 million, the project would include covering the Aquatic
Center’s existing outdoor pool and building a teen center.
Steve
Keefer
"The
whole facility would be such a benefit to the community,"
Fairbrother said.
Both
Keefer and Fairbrother said they support construction of a south-county
trails system, and both agreed that any partition of the system into
motorized and nonmotorized use should be done as the result of
recommendations from a committee composed of both user groups.
Both also
said they would like to expand the population using the district’s
facilities. Fairbrother said she would like to see recreation
information printed in the local papers in Spanish.