VIDEO: Oktibbeha County Lake And Water Park Still Up For Grabs

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- The Oktibbeha County Lake and Wet-N-Wild Water Park has been a long talked about issue.

Former Mississippi State Basketball coach, Rick Stansbury owns the lake and has been trying to sell it for some time.

Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors have talked about purchasing the Lake and turning it for a profit.

However, Stansbury is asking for $2-million.

Board President Orlando Trainer says there is no way the board will purchase it at that price.

District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller listed off concerns and reasonings as to why the purchase would be more of a risk than a gain for the county.

Upkeep and liability costs were of top concern.

“One of the slides is forty feet tall and you know the amount of staff you gotta have out there, are you gonna have certified lifeguards? As far as safety checks for bolts and stuff like that. So you knows those always cause concern,” says Miller.

Trainer thinks it’s a wise purchase because he says the county is already investing close to $600,000 in repairing the levy.

“I have an issue with us having to spend all that money to improve the levy and then once the levys improved, it enhances and improves the lake. And so whoever has the lease on the lake will benefit form not only those improvements but from all of those improvements that have happened on that lake from its very inception,” says Trainer.

No agreement has been made to purchase or not to purchase the park, instead, the board passed a 3-2 agreement to hire a professional evaluator.

The evaluator will come out and create potential cost estimates and benefits of the park and report back to the board.