Two new Boys and Girls Clubs could be coming to Henry County in less than a year – if the SPLOST referendum passes in November.

  The Henry County Board of Commissioners approved the county’s final SPLOST V project list at a July 29 special called meeting and included $2 million for funding of a club on the west side of the county and another on the east side. Both clubs will be placed in the city of McDonough, and city officials were credited for their efforts to partner with the county on the projects.

  Commissioner Dee Clemmons said the county will seek to model the program after the Forsyth-Monroe County program, which works with its school system. The local clubs will be called the Boys and Girls Clubs of Henry County-McDonough.

  She also gave a brief history of the process that led to the board’s decision.

  “We began this process 15 months ago when we recruited a steering committee to complete a community assessment. Earlier in the year I, along with city officials, my colleagues on the BOC and county manager did a county tour with Metro Atlanta Boys and Girls Club,” said Clemmons. “Since the tour, we have chosen to proceed with a school-based model contingent on Henry County School Board’s support,” said Clemmons. “Right now we are nearly 85 percent ready to bring them here.”

  Clemmons said she received word earlier this month from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Georgia expressing interest in Henry County and that the organization is “seeking partnership opportunities to expand its programming and services into communities that are unserved and/or underserved by youth development organizations.”

  The move comes on the heels of a previous meeting in which the board made changes to the list, including the removal of a jail pod, so that $22 million could be allocated for two aquatic centers. Commissioner Bruce Holmes said at the time that citizens were expressing a desire for “quality of life” items and Clemmons added that giving young people a positive environment in which to gather would keep them out of jail later in life.