By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
Women Who Lead presented a park improvement plan for Sunrise Park during Thursday’s City Commission meeting.
The group’s plan is broken down into two phases. The first phase focuses on the ballfields, basketball court and disc golf holes.
One of the two ballfields at the park frequently floods.
“It currently doesn’t get a lot of play action on it because it’s not level,” Board President for Women Who Lead Ruth Ruder said.
Director of Parks Jeff Boyle agreed.
“The ballfields have been in bad shape for years,” Boyle said.
M&D Construction has agreed to give the group a discount on the ballfield repairs. As part of the improvements, M&D will bring in red dirt which will help the fields dry out faster.
The current basketball court is a junior size and Boyle said the park could benefit from a larger court.
“For years we’ve said that that park needs a basketball court,” Boyle said.
Unfortunately, the court costs $30,000 and so the project has continued to be pushed off.
The park also contains a six-hole disc golf course. Ruder said this would be expanded to a nine-hole course and a kiosk with disc golf maps. The group would also secure solar lighting for the park and purchase trash cans.
The total cost for the first phase is $49,150, however, the group is only seeking approval for the projects – not funding.
“The wonderful piece of this, not only all the improvements, but the bottom line is you’re not asking the city for the money,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs continued by saying that the generous donations have made these much-needed improvements feasible.
“For us to look for $50,000 in the budget to do this in one park would be very, very difficult,” Jacobs said.
Additionally, the improvements will not result in significant upkeep and maintenance from Parks Department staff.
“These are all standard things that are really low maintenance,” Boyle said.
The second phase of the project will be replacing the playground equipment. The upgraded equipment is expected to cost between $100,000 and $200,000 so Women Who Lead would be pursuing fundraising and grants for that phase.
Commissioner Alaina Cunningham applauded the work of Women Who Lead.
“The parks and their sustainability has been on the top of my mind since I joined the commission,” Cunningham said. “Without groups like you guys coming forward, it makes it really difficult for us to do upgrades and replace things.”
Other items from the meeting included:
- A citizen brought up a concern that backyard chickens are not allowed in the City of Hays
- Approval of building code updates
The next City Commission meeting will be at 4:00 p.m. in City Hall on April 10.
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