I have to give the Russellville city council credit. Instead of being stubborn in the face of obvious public opposition, they decided to change their previous vote that would have all but doomed the new city park.

Mayor Gene Zick’s special called city council meeting on Tuesday of last week had a huge turnout – with nearly everyone being in favor of building the new park with the $1.5 million in Rockwell settlement funds.

In the face of that opposition, the Russellville city council did a complete about face. Just days after a 5-1 vote that halted work on the park, the council voted unanimously to go ahead with the plans.

Good for them for listening to their constituents.

I’m also happy that the council is trying to be as fiscally responsible with the new park as possible.

The whole reason they voted to shut down the project was the current economic state of the city – which isn’t good.

Russellville will no doubt have to make some pretty substantial cuts to its budget in the next few weeks.

Adding a new park – even one that is built with money from the Rockwell settlement – won’t make that any easier. Assuming the cost of the park doesn’t go over the $1.5 million allocated to build it, there will still be maintenance costs. That means either adding money to the parks department, or diverting money from the already existing parks.

In the short term, the planned artificial turf fields will not have much cost associated with them. But while fake grass doesn’t have to be mowed, it does have to be maintained and eventually replaced. That all costs money – money the city doesn’t necessarily have right now.

I hope the new park is a great addition to the city.

I have a 5-year-old daughter who loves to play soccer. I have no doubt that in the future I’ll spend plenty of time there watching her play.

I just hope it doesn’t become a huge financial burden on the city in the long term.

— OJ Stapleton is the editor of the News-Democrat & Leader. Contact him at edit_ndl@bellsouth.net or 726-8394.