Seligman readies parks for summer use
April 17, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
With summer fast approaching, towns in Barry County are readying their public spaces for the season. In Seligman, this process has proved somewhat extensive for city employees.
In the Seligman public park, there are two sets of bathrooms: one by the ballfield and one located near the back of the park next to city hall. The city has opted to do some minor improvements to the bathroom located closest to the ballfield.
“We did some building improvements there to get everything prepared for summer. We added some lighting and made some door and toilet repairs,” said Seligman city clerk Brian Nichols.
The second set of bathrooms in the park proved a challenge for the city’s maintenance crews; so much so that the city has deemed it less costly to simply close off the bathroom and prevent any further damage to the structure.
“We’ve had issues in the past of people camping out inside of the bathrooms. Mainly, some people like to go in there and tear up the fixtures,” said Nichols. “That section of the park doesn’t get used much, so we’re leaving it be for the time being.”
According to Nichols, this damage is both extensive and constant, with the city’s preventative measures being beaten back by the vandals.
“[The bathrooms] get torn up so quickly,” said Nichols. “After our last round of repairs, we added some small cameras to the property. Some individuals late at night went through and damaged all the cameras. They also broke through the metal gates that were there and vandalized a lot of stuff.”
Nichols stated that one of the major improvements to the park will involve the fence around the ballfield.
“Around the ballfield, we’re adding additional fence top. It will be corrugated plastic around the fence top. That way, if anyone runs in to it, they don’t catch the top of the fence A the side or the belly and end up getting hurt from it.”
Additionally, Barry Electric aided the city in fixing some of the damaged electric features around the park, namely some of the ballfield lights.
“There’s two lights at the ballfield,” said Nichols. “One sits above home base, the other sits above a parking lot off to the side. [Barry Electric] repaired the one over the parking lot.”
According to Nichols, Barry Electric replaced the light in the parking lot with an LED light while the light above homebase was replaced with a much cheaper standard bulb. This was done because of concerns that with the light being immediately over home base meant there was a high chance of the light being damaged during play.
In preparation for the season, the city’s public works department also did other minor repairs around the park.
“We did go through and fix the benches and repaired some of the kids equipment,” said Nichols.
According to Nichols, repairs to the park has thus far cost the city approximately $250. No further repairs are needed at this time, except for the plastic the city will be installing on the fence in the near future. The fence cover will cost the city an additional $600.
Vinnie Roberts
With summer fast approaching, towns in Barry County are readying their public spaces for the season. In Seligman, this process has proved somewhat extensive for city employees.
In the Seligman public park, there are two sets of bathrooms: one by the ballfield and one located near the back of the park next to city hall. The city has opted to do some minor improvements to the bathroom located closest to the ballfield.
“We did some building improvements there to get everything prepared for summer. We added some lighting and made some door and toilet repairs,” said Seligman city clerk Brian Nichols.
The second set of bathrooms in the park proved a challenge for the city’s maintenance crews; so much so that the city has deemed it less costly to simply close off the bathroom and prevent any further damage to the structure.
“We’ve had issues in the past of people camping out inside of the bathrooms. Mainly, some people like to go in there and tear up the fixtures,” said Nichols. “That section of the park doesn’t get used much, so we’re leaving it be for the time being.”
According to Nichols, this damage is both extensive and constant, with the city’s preventative measures being beaten back by the vandals.
“[The bathrooms] get torn up so quickly,” said Nichols. “After our last round of repairs, we added some small cameras to the property. Some individuals late at night went through and damaged all the cameras. They also broke through the metal gates that were there and vandalized a lot of stuff.”
Nichols stated that one of the major improvements to the park will involve the fence around the ballfield.
“Around the ballfield, we’re adding additional fence top. It will be corrugated plastic around the fence top. That way, if anyone runs in to it, they don’t catch the top of the fence A the side or the belly and end up getting hurt from it.”
Additionally, Barry Electric aided the city in fixing some of the damaged electric features around the park, namely some of the ballfield lights.
“There’s two lights at the ballfield,” said Nichols. “One sits above home base, the other sits above a parking lot off to the side. [Barry Electric] repaired the one over the parking lot.”
According to Nichols, Barry Electric replaced the light in the parking lot with an LED light while the light above homebase was replaced with a much cheaper standard bulb. This was done because of concerns that with the light being immediately over home base meant there was a high chance of the light being damaged during play.
In preparation for the season, the city’s public works department also did other minor repairs around the park.
“We did go through and fix the benches and repaired some of the kids equipment,” said Nichols.
According to Nichols, repairs to the park has thus far cost the city approximately $250. No further repairs are needed at this time, except for the plastic the city will be installing on the fence in the near future. The fence cover will cost the city an additional $600.
