The city of Athens is no longer a member of the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia, ending a partnership that began when the organization launched in 2017.
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said he resigned from ORCA’s board and withdrew the city because of differing views with Executive Director Jessie Powers over how to sustain the region’s trail system.
“There was not an alignment between myself and the executive director in terms of sustainability,” Patterson said. “When you've got the 88 miles of mountain bike trail … that's a lot of trail to maintain.”
Patterson said he proposed adding short-term rentals, such as Airbnb cabins, near the trailheads to generate revenue for maintenance.
“One of the ways that would have worked really well from a sustainability standpoint would be to, either on forest service land or land that we could have acquired, we could build cabins,” Patterson said. “But the executive director and I didn't see eye to eye on that at all, even though I knew that was what we had to do to be sustainable.”
Powers said she received an email from Patterson on March 31 stating he was resigning from the board and issuing a 90-day notice. She said no reason was included.
“At the board meeting on March 27, the mayor spoke about how he would be staying with ORCA for a long time, so no, we were not aware,” Powers said.
According to ORCA’s website, the organization’s mission is to ensure “sustainable outdoor recreation assets serve rural communities by improving and catalyzing economic opportunities and providing social, environmental and health benefits to communities and their residents.”
Patterson, who said he served as chair of the ORCA board for nearly five years, said he values the group’s work but believes it had moved “off the mark.”
He also said language in the original ordinance allowed him to withdraw from the city without Athens City Council approval.
When ORCA began, the city agreed to match Athens County’s contribution, Patterson said, totaling $90,000. The city and county later reduced their annual payments to $35,000 after two or three years.
Patterson said Athens County later left the organization after tensions developed between county commissioners and ORCA leadership. Athens then remained a member until this year.
Powers said the city’s withdrawal will not significantly affect ORCA’s operations.
“The dues structure is only such that any paying member, so the jurisdictions with the population greater than 25,000, only pays $1,000, so it's not a big budget gap for us to fill at that point,” Powers said. “ORCA was fortunate enough to receive state operating funds in the last biennium budget cycle, which are covering operations costs currently.”
Powers said ORCA plans to continue working with residents and businesses in Athens.
“For the citizens of Athens, the Bailey's trail system continues to be the world class quality destination it is because of its proximity to all the amenities in the city of Athens, and we look forward to continued partnerships with citizens, businesses and the community in general, as we look to activate and accelerate the growth of the outdoor recreation economy here in southern Ohio,” Powers said.
Patterson said leaving ORCA will allow the city to focus more directly on local recreation projects.
“We need to focus on river trails, better utilizing the Hocking River,” Patterson said. “We've got 750 acres of nature preserves here in the city of Athens. There's an area of about 26 acres on the south side of the city that could be and will be in the future, developed into a trail network over there.”
