County officials discuss proposed $10 million in parks and rec spending

Shawnee County Commissioner Kevin Cook isn’t against pickleball, he said at Monday’s commission meeting.

Cook addressed dozens of pickleball enthusiasts — many of them senior citizens — who attended to show support for creating a “Family Park” featuring new trails and pickleball courts on county-owned land just south of S.W. 21st and Urish Road.

Cook suggested the three-man commission would overextend the county government financially if it approved Commissioner Bob Archer’s proposal to incur $10 million in new debt to finance new construction in parks and recreation, with some of that going to develop the Family Park in an amount that hasn’t been made specific.

(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)