Ringgold to name Creek Walk, sidewalk system after late council member Mcmillon
Ringgold has decided to name its popular Creek Walk and sidewalk system after former long-time Council member and visionary Bill Mcmillon.
It’s been a little over a year since the city lost former City Council member William “Bill” Mcmillon, but his contributions to the community live on — so much so that the current council unanimously voted in December to name Creek Walk at the historic nature trail in his honor.
“One of his greatest passions during his time on the City Council was improving the ability of our residents to have mobility in the community, to have a strong, solid walking system in the community,” council member Randall Franks said Dec. 9. “Sidewalks were his passion, the Creek Walk was his vision, and I can see no better location within the city that we honor his many years of service to our community in elected and appointed positions than to name the Creek Walk and our sidewalk system after William ‘Bill’ Mcmillon.”
Mcmillon died in October 2018, but not before he served the country in the Air Force, and the community as council member, vice mayor, and Downtown Development Authority board member.
“In relation to doing this, I suggest that we do a small bronze plaque and attach it to a flat-sided boulder down there at the entrance to the Creek Walk,” Franks said. “On that plaque, we place his name, his vice mayor, council member, his years of service and naming the Creek Walk and sidewalk system in his honor. That will be placed once we finish the refurbishment of the creek walk, which is still yet to be done, I assume some time in 2020.”
Even in the years after his time as an elected official was over, Mcmillon could often be seen riding through downtown on his golf cart taking in the connectivity of the revitalized community he helped build.
City Manager Dan Wright says Mcmillon saw a lot of things during his time in the military and in the oil business, and brought ideas from all over the world back to Ringgold.
“I certainly had the pleasure of working here when council member Mcmillan was elected,” Wright said. “Back in the 1990s, we thought about water, sewer, and roads. That’s all we pretty much did — nothing about playgrounds and such. So then when he came and mentioned to me about the creek walk, I thought, ‘what in the world would we be doing putting this Creek Walk in down here.’ Well, we did it and the next thing I knew, people were just swarming over it, and then you started seeing people having their prom pictures and wedding pictures and baptismal services. He was a visionary and he really did want to see things for our community.”
Adam Cook is a general assignment reporter and covers the Walker-catoosa County area. He has been a reporter since 2009.