Put your name on a Knox County park, if price is right

Civic-minded residents and corporations can now have a Knox County park or facility with their own name on it. All it takes is money.

The Knox County Commission unanimously approved new rules this past week as a way to supplement taxpayer dollars while making improvements.

The new system was proposed by new Parks and Recreation Director Joseph Mack, who previously oversaw a similar program in Covington, Tennessee, where he led the parks and recreation department.

“This is something I’ve done in the past in previous positions — it helped build numerous facilities and renovate facilities at no cost to the government,” he told commissioners at their work session meeting earlier this month. The commission OK’d the new rules Monday.

How naming rights will be handled will vary by donation and request, Mack said, and will be determined based on the county’s needs and the size of the donation.

All requests will go through the Legacy Parks Foundation and must be approved by the county commission.

“An example would be $20,000 could fund a small outdoor fitness equipment project that would result in a sign recognizing the donor at the site of the project,” Mack wrote in an email. “[Whereas] $500,000 could fund resurfacing a grass softball field to a synthetic turf softball field and would result in a naming rights agreement between the county and the donor for that field.”

There are no parks that are off-limits, even those already named after someone. In this case, the county would work with the donor to preserve the original name while also recognizing the new donor. For instance, Mack said, a company could make a large donation to resurface all five grass football fields at John Tarleton Park, and the donor could rename the park the “donor name” Sports Complex at John Tarleton Park.

Still, there will be guidelines. A donation doesn’t guarantee anything. Both the county and the donor would have to agree on what happens.

“You couldn’t donate enough to do the fields at Tarleton and name them Sports Are Dumb Fields at John Tarleton Park,” Mack said. “It wouldn’t be a good fit for the space, so there would have to be discussion on what would work for both groups.”

The rules also include language for how the commission can strike a name from a facility or park if necessary if the name would negatively impact the reputation, image, mission or integrity of the county. A change like that would require two-thirds approval from the commission body, amended from the original unanimous decision that was originally proposed.