By Sterling McGinn
The Friends of Luce County Park attended the April 21 meeting of the Luce County Commissioners in hopes of answers to their concerns about the upcoming season at the Luce County Park.
The Friends of Luce County Park are annual patrons of the park who have been attending every commission meeting for months in hopes of improving the parks and recreation department.
Many issues began last summer following the resignation of former Director Ben Rahilly and the disbanding of the Luce County Parks and Recreation board. The Friends group noted that messages to the department’s Facebook page have not been answered, and camping season is imminent.
“We are getting pretty close to camping season—one month from today, that park is supposed to open,” said Jeri Sue Rahilly. She said water samples must be taken and other site work needs to be completed quickly.
A chief concern of the group is that the commission’s proposed Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee has not been created. The advisory committee would consist of area residents who would bring ideas and recommendations about county park facilities to the commissioners, who would have the final say in the matters.
The board had advertised for positions on the advisory committee, but no action was taken.
“The ball has been dropped on this,” said commissioner Tony Immel. “We look terrible, and it has got to change, and it is going to change. We talked about the committee six months ago and it was going to get done, and it isn’t done.”
In hopes of resolving unanswered questions, Rahilly also suggested that the county commissioners add a “public comment follow-up from previous meeting” item to future meeting agendas similar to what the Newberry Village Council does.
“It sounds like a nice way to do it because public comment so far for us hasn’t given us much information,” Rahilly said.
Kim Quinlan, a member of the Friends of Luce County Park, said the group opposes the price increase for sites at the park and the new payment method.
“It stayed the same for seasonal people, but the seasonal people are being told when they have to start camping and when they have to end camping,” Quinlan said. “Everybody else got a price increase.”
She also noted that on the website, there are currently only 12 sites reserved for the first and second weeks of the season, and 15 for the third.
“In past practice there has been a minimum of 35 reserved…that is a loss of $20,000 before you even get going. I don’t think this system is working.”
Seasonal rates for 2026 are $2,725 and daily rates are $30.
“The park carries the ice rink—it carries the baseball field,” said Annie Brown. “This is something for months that we begged you to listen to us. If you don’t have at the beginning of the season, long-term campers, you lose money.”
Brown also hopes that a park manager will also be obtained. She said she’s heard there are new campground rules but was told she didn’t need to see them.
New Parks and Recreation Director Raul Montalvo and the office secretary Autumn Walther were supposed to attend the meeting that night, but neither were present. Commissioner Immel wanted to know why they were not in attendance to answer the questions from the public.
The following day after the April board meeting, Director Montalvo resigned.
The county has advertised for the position of parks and recreation director. The commissioners will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, May 12 at 4 p.m. in the Luce County Government Building to review the applicants to select a director.
In the plan to fix the ongoing issues, Commissioner Angie Harris said that she scheduled a meeting for Friday between the parks and recreation officials and the two county commissioners assigned to the committee. At the meeting, they will discuss the proposed committee, appoint citizens to the committee, and address concerns from those who attended the meeting that night.
Commissioner Immel said he would also like to see posted office hours for the parks and recreation officials.
