Brady pledges support for Corps
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan U.S. CONGRESSMAN KEVIN BRADY, left, listens as Mark Shaw talks during last Tuesday's meeting.

Responding to an outcry about federal funding to the Corps of Engineers parks' system, U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady held a roundtable meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19 at the DETCOG building in Jasper.

The purpose of the meeting was for Brady to receive updates on the Corps' parks system and what problems they are encountering with a "flat" budget.

In an article in the Feb. 6 edition of The Jasper Newsboy, David LaRue, parks manager for the Corps, said federal funding issues have plagued the parks systems in recent years and this year is no exception.

"Our recreation program has been flat for a number of years," LaRue said. "Back in 2005 we had quite a significant cut and there is no change on the horizon."

LaRue stressed that there is no talk of closing any of the existing Corps parks but said, "the possibility exists."

"There is nothing targeted at the moment," LaRue said.

Mark Shaw, operations projects manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sam Rayburn/Town Bluff, said during Tuesday's meeting that no closures are planned of area public parks.

"Our budget is pretty well flat-lined," Shaw said. "We don't believe any other park closures at this time. We made some adjustments in 2005 where we looked at some areas where we had underutilized sites and made some decisions then to make partial closures.

"Basically, we put the money where the demand was and utilized and maintained those areas as best as we could," Shaw said. "It was some hard decisions but they paid off as folks are still coming out to the lakes. The money is still going into the treasury but at this point it's been a balancing act for us."

Shaw said the Corps has been exploring partnering opportunities with Jasper County.

"I believe we are making the right decisions to maintain our areas to a quality standard and provide the different opportunities for the public to enjoy," Shaw said.

Doug Pierre, chief operations for the Army Corps Ft. Worth division, said business line budgets have already been submitted through 2009 for approval.

"People don't understand the budget process at least from the Corps' standpoint is that we budget at least two years out," Pierre said. "We are presently getting ready to budget for 2010."

What is lacking in the future Corps' budgets is recreational item funding and Brady pointed out that some of these funds are added on but often cut out of the federal budget.

"The budget process in Washington is that the Corps has budget figures and we make requests to plus up and add in different areas each year," Brady said. "But what we have discovered is that is that it's a bit of a crap shoot. We push equally hard for these add ons but we don't know if some appropriations committee staffer is going to decide what we are going to have. It's just not as consistent as we would like and we can't predict if we are going to get that money."

Brady said he would continue to push for money to be added to the Corps' budget especially on the recreational side.

"The lake is an economic driver for this region," Brady said.

Brady questioned whether the Corps has considered partnering up with counties or districts in the area to make improvements to the parks in order to "keep those tournaments coming here."

Jasper County Precinct 1 Commissioner Charles Shofner said different partnership projects have been considered between the Corps and county and the Jasper County Development District #1.

The first project that the county, the district and the Corps are considering is opening 19 sites at the Twin Dikes Park during the months of October through February to draw winter Texans to the area.

"These sites are typically closed every year and the district has been researching winter Texans that travel to parks during those months to stay," Shofner said. "Our goal is to have these spots available for 2008."

Shofner said an additional 10-15 sites have been located as well but these sites would have to be updated with electrical hookups.

Shofner said the district is looking into the possibility of funding the updates to these sites so that the number of sites available to winter Texans would grow to 30.

Gary Collins, chairman for the Jasper County Development District #1, said the district's main concern is with the closing of public boat ramps on Rayburn.

"If we lose those boat ramps you will cut our tourism and tournament trails considerably," Collins said. "Our objective is to get these winter Texans into this area and build up our base to a $200,000 budget in the district to work with. The more money that we get visiting here, the more money we have to spend back into the area."

Collins said that talk has circulated that boat ramps on Rayburn have closed from 12 to six.

"You can't put in a tournament of 400 boaters with just six boat ramps - it won't work," Collins said.

Fred Barnett, a board member of the Jasper County Development District #1, pointed out a group is presently placing an RV park near Twin Dikes Park.

"There is no doubt that those folks are going to be successful even though they don't have water access," Barnett said. "Twin Dikes has water access. It has everything. It just needs that additional little money to go to that next level. There is no doubt that we have a real winner in Twin Dikes, it's just starving because it doesn't have the money."

Shofner told the panel that he believes Brady will do all he can do to help the Corps and the region with funding that it needs.

"Congressman Brady has always been a champion for us," Shofner said. "Any issue that we ever ask him about, he always comes to our aid and helps us. Any help would be a tremendous shot in the arm for us."

Brady said he called the meeting because he believes "this is an important project."

"We will keep pushing for help for this region," Brady said. "And we will keep pushing for more Corps funding overall. Rayburn and Steinhagen are huge for us."