The battle between the County Commission and County Park Board is not over yet.

In an interview Tuesday, Rodger Abbott, park board president, announced that the board had found new information that may turn the tide in against the commission.

According to Abbott, a 1973 attorney general opinion showed that the county government tried once before to take over the park board, and the attorney general sided against the commission.

In the 32-year-old opinion, former attorney general William J. Baxley stated that the county government “shall supply lands, buildings and facilities to the Recreation Board … and the Recreation Board shall have jurisdiction over that land for the purpose for which they were given, donated or otherwise supplied.”

Abbott said the board voted at their last meeting to use that document to seek a new opinion from the current attorney general Troy King.

“If they have not changed the law since then, than the ruling should be the same,” Abbott said.

Abbott specified that the board’s intention was only to keep the best interests of they county’s parks in mind.

“There’s no malice or anything else in this effort,” said Abbott. “We’re just making sure the proper decision was made.”

County Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens disagreed with Abbot’s statement: “I think they’re sort of stirring around, trying to stir up as much trouble over it as they possibly can.”

The disagreement between the park board and the commission started in January of this year when park board secretary Gloria Upton was fired by the board in a controversial 3-2 vote.

It is not clear exactly why Upton was fired, but in February’s meeting board member Ronald Dillashaw said it was because Director Robbie Camp “couldn’t work with her.”

Later in the year, after the commission replaced two park board members, an effort was started to rehire Upton.

Hilton Angle and Abbott both spearheaded the attempt, claiming that she was wrongfully terminated.

“I suspect if anyone should be fired, it’s you,” Abbott reportedly told Camp at a January meeting.

While Upton was not rehired on the first attempt, the action elicited a warning to the board from Kitchens to “settle down.” He then threatened to recommend that the board be dissolved.

“I will not stand by and see all that the parks have come out and done in the last 2 1/2 years be destroyed,” he said.

Despite the warning, the park board amended their own by-laws to rehire Upton. They also promoted her replacement Kathy Whitfield, giving her a $2.15 per hour raise.

Together, Whitfield’s raise and Upton’s salary represented more than $26,000 of expense for the park board.

The commission responded in August with a controversial, 2-1 decision to remove the $300,000 in funding for the park board—more than half of the board’s total budget—and to seize control of the parks for the county.

“We felt like since we were funding it, we should have some cooperation from the park board,” said Kitchens. “We felt like we could do more with the parks than what was being done.”

To date, the commission has used county labor to complete several projects at the parks, including a new parking area, walking trails and mountain bike areas, according to Commissioner Doug Williams.

Despite the takeover, Abbott said the Park Board is still holding monthly meetings and paying for the cabins at Smith Lake Park and the lodging tax.

“Naturally, there will come a point in time down the road when we’re going to run out of money, but that’s not any time in the near future,” Abbott said.

Members of the park board currently await completion of a financial audit.

Board Chairman Ronald Dillashaw said he will recommend the board dissolve once the audit is complete.