N-D&L Photo/CHRIS COOPER A bulldozer was seen filling in the hole in front of the Memorial Park in Russellville. The Russellville City Council gave Mayor Gene Zick 45 days to fill in the hole which was to be a “fish pond” for kids as well as a water runoff basin. The deadline to fill in the hole is November 20.
A week before this meeting, a majority of the council voted not to accept a bid of $457,601 to place artificial turf on two soccer fields at the city’s newest park located on Armory Drive.
The city received $1.5 million from the state Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC) in 2007 to build the new park. The funds were taken from a multi-million dollar settlement between the state who sued Rockwell International Corp., a long-serving industry in Russellville who released Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) into the environment.
Rockwell International donated the property the park will be built on to the city of Russellville. The property is located beside Town Creek and has to be tested for PCB levels by the corporation.
Mayor Zick was aggravated at his council after they followed the lead of McPherson, who made the motion at the Nov. 10th meeting, which changed the direction of the project from turf to natural grass.
“We can put sand-based Bermuda grass on the two fields for $9,800, which would save money that can be spent on other items the park will need,” McPherson had said.
McPherson went on to say he believed if the council voted to accept a bid to turf the two soccer fields it would be one of the “biggest mistakes” the council ever made. He was also concerned about the taxpayers having to foot the bill to replace the turf in 10 to 11 years.
Mayor Zick contends the turf can be patched when wear and tear occurs.
“We don’t have the luxury these NFL programs have who rip up the old turf and replace it in its entirety when it wears. I have spoken with 12 different turf vendors who have told me that we can patch the turf when needed,” said Zick adding, “The park will need to be self-sufficient and we can do this by taking a percentage of the concessions and tournament fees and putting them in a separate account.”
At last Tuesday’s meeting McPherson brought with him a park analysis he put together showing previous spending for the park as well as future spending he believed would have to take place. He matched the numbers with the funds the city had left from the $1.5 million to build the park.
According to McPherson’s analysis the city only has $623,740 left of the $1.5 million for the park project after the expense of soccer lights, the concessions stand, restrooms, property preparation and engineering costs.
McPherson claims if $457,601 is spent of the artificial turf for the two soccer fields, this would drop the funds to $166,139. The project still calls for the construction of a girl’s softball field which is to be turfed at an approximate $219,000 plus the lighting of the softball field at $110,000. That would total $329,000 which would put the project in the negative by $162.861.
McPherson says this doesn’t include scoreboards, backstops, bleachers, additional backfill, playground equipment, a skateboard park, walking trails and bridges which the mayor says can be donated.
“I don’t want to have to worry about getting things donated for the park,” said McPherson.
Mayor Zick stated the reasoning behind putting artificial turf on the fields was to place an additional barrier between the contaminated soil and the kids.
“We have an agreement with the state to place turf on the softball field due to flooding issues. I felt if would be beneficial to go across to the other side of the park and put the added protection on the soccer fields as well. If the creek floods and spreads across the park it could bring the PCB’s to the top of the soil. Placing turf on the fields is an additional barrier that can be sprayed off. If we put in natural grass and a flood occurs we will have to replace the fields,” said Zick who is concerned about the perception of the safety of the park.
McPherson said he didn’t believe there was any fear of contamination by using sand-based Bermuda grass.
According to Zick he was lead to believe by his council to proceed with the idea of placing artificial turf on the fields.
“When we talked about this over a year ago I told the council we were looking at it costing $7 a square foot. They still wanted me to proceed with the idea. It is now coming in at $4 a square foot and they are now saying no,” said Zick who doesn’t understand why now.
According to the mayor approximately $30,000 has been spent in engineering costs as well as travel in preparation for artificial turf which is now “down the drain.”
The Russellville Council will be meeting tonight at 6 p.m. to further discuss turf versus natural grass.
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