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Andrews – As a boy, James “Jaybird” Ellis grew up enjoying everything the town recreation department had to offer the community in and around the 1980s. Decades later, the Andrews native hopes to restore those properties and facilities back to their glory days.
Ellis was appointed Andrews’ parks and recreation director when the town’s board of aldermen approved the hiring of three new full-time positions for the department on Feb. 8.
“Some of my greatest memories were from little league to the pool to the Fourth of July celebration to then when I was a teenager playing softball leagues, and we’re going to bring it back to those days,” said Ellis, a 1991 graduate of Andrews High School. “I just want to give back to the community, and I think this is a good way to do it. I want to give to the community what it gave to me as a child.”
Mayor James Reid said the hires were tied to the town regaining managing control of the 32-acre Heritage Park from Cherokee County late last year – the first time in more than a decade.
County Manager Randy Wiggins said Andrews gained all of the park’s equipment and the remaining funds in the budget for the 2022 fiscal year. The town also will receive $128,000 in funding from the county each year for 2023 and 2024.
Brian Wilson will serve alongside Ellis as the department’s activities director. Wilson served as a longtime recreation department employee under both Andrews and Cherokee County.
“With them willing to take a pay cut, we were able to take two top guys to run this together, have a rec park director and an activities coordinator,” Reid said. “We’re very excited about where the rec park is heading and the future of (it).”
Ellis owns The Compound fitness center in town and is a member of the Cherokee County Board of Education. He has been retired for the past nine years after a 30-year career in the U.S. Navy – professional experience he believes will serve him well in his new role.
“I’m a facilities guy, that’s what I did in the military,” he said. “My specialty is facilities, and that’s what most of what this job is.
“We’re just trying to catch everything back up at the moment. We’re just getting all the fields back in order, and the facilities we have, get them back up and running in top-notch shape.”
While much of that work is focused on getting fields ready for the start of the spring sports season, Ellis said safety and security is another important focus. The Heritage Park restrooms have required significant cleanup, seemingly due to homeless individuals using the facilities for shelter. Portions of restrooms walls and floors were even charred from where small fires had been set.
“There was activity going on in the bathrooms,” Ellis said. “It seems like there were people staying in them. We’re in the renovation process.”
Ellis said those facilities are now locked when the park closes at 10 p.m. He is working with the Andrews Police Department to maintain a regular law enforcement presence around recreation department properties.
Andrews also recently opened a children’s playground in the recreation park near the swimming pool. Ellis said he has seen 40-50 children at the new playground each day.
“We’ve had a problem of no place for the kids to play for quite a while here,” Reid said. “This will be a great place for the kids to go and be able to play.”
Ellis said he’s excited about working with Wilson, and the knowledge and enthusiasm he brings. In particular, Ellis hopes Wilson can help bring back the type of softball leagues he enjoyed as a teenager.
“He knows field maintenance like nobody else,” Ellis said. “He was actually down here when I was a kid ... doing that for years and years, and he loves that stuff. We have four baseball/softball fields that have to be maintained on a daily basis, and it makes a ton of sense to have somebody that is so knowledgeable about that day-to-day process.”