JACKSON, Mich — If you've been to the Jackson County building, you can't miss these gates here by the entrance. And, if you glance upstairs, you can make out what is now known as the County Tower Ballroom — an ornate event space that has some wondering how the County pays for it.
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"Everything was covered up." It's a space County Commission Chair Steve Shotwell says had to be restored after it was converted into office space in the 70s. "You couldn't see any of the walls…any of the wainscoting, any of that stuff. It was all covered in ugly brown paneling."
It's now administered by the County Parks system.
Jackson neighborhood podcaster and influencer John Wilson says this is a problem.
In 2018, Jackson voters approved a County Parks millage. "It was to maintain and upkeep and add some amenities to the 17 existing county parks," says Wilson. That money, he says, was not intended for a ballroom.
I asked Shotwell about those concerns.
He says the Ballroom restoration predates the 2018 millage. "It was all done way before the parks millage," says Shotwell. The funding, he says, came from county land sales, and the ballroom pays for itself through rentals.
But Wilson says adding that income to the parks budget is not what voters approved: "If it's generating money, profit, then that should go back into the general fund. The general fund only should be funding the County Tower Ballroom."
Shotwell says having County Parks administer the Ballroom is a practical decision: "The County Board of Commissioners saw fit to move this underneath the Parks and Rec Department for rentals because they have the staff."
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