LaGRANGE – As the county continues to grow, more thought is being put into the image that Troup County displays to the public, and that thought was highlighted on Tuesday morning with the discussion of a possible intern for the parks and recreation department.

The Troup County Parks and Recreation department requested permission to apply for a grant from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia during the commission work session on Tuesday. The grant would make it possible for the department to hire an intern to assist the department with creating a clear, concise marketing plan that could help bring in more events like the Spring Sports Festival that is going on this week as well as other types of tournaments.

“It would provide us an intern for up to 200 hours,” said Parks and Recreation Director Cajen Rhodes. “Our intentions for use of this intern are – we really want to focus on marketing with this intern, so we are really going to work closely with ACCG if we are permitted to do so. Hopefully we’ll get a good intern in, and they can help us develop a marketing plan.”

While the county budget would not currently allow for an employee in that role, the $2,000 from the grant would make it possible for the county to move forward on one of the chamber of commerce’s major marketing goals for the community without additional county expense.

“Basically, we front the money then they pay us back, so there is no out of pocket for the county” said County Manager Tod Tentler.

Commissioner Ellis Cadenhead expressed hopes that the prospective intern would come from one of the colleges in the county, but the final decision on that would need to be made in conjunction with ACCG if the grant is approved.

The commission plans to vote on whether to allow the grant application to move forward at its meeting on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at 100 Ridley Ave. This week’s meeting time was moved to an earlier time because of scheduling conflicts.