CLINTON — Commissioner Dan Ballenger is hopeful contractors will begin installing the new playground equipment at Kiwanis Park in the next two weeks.
Ballenger said during Monday’s city council meeting he wouldn’t try to put an exact date on the installation, but the city was working to have the site ready to go.
“Steve Lobb and the city crew is down there doing great work putting the walls in,” Ballenger said.
“All I’m going to say is within the next two weeks, we are going to be ready for the date they told us they would be there. It’s not going to be on us, it’s going to be on them.”
Apparent delays by the contractor forced the city to store the equipment until a date could be set for the installation.
“So, hopefully, within a couple of weeks, you’ll see that equipment going in,” Ballenger said.
Prompted by a concern from commissioner John Wise, the city also is looking at installing better lighting and camera surveillance at Kiwanis.
Wise said, as a former school district employee, vandals often take advantage of new playground equipment to cause damage.
“I just know how this goes,” Wise said. “We had that new playground at CES (Clinton Elementary School), and within a week, somebody tried to light a fire in it.”
Ballenger said he met with public works director Steve Lobb and they were planning “super lighting down there.”
“To where it would be uncomfortable for somebody to be there at nighttime,” Ballenger said.
Ballenger also said he and police chief Ben Lowers met about the possible use of cameras at the park.
“I’m talking to the landowner to the north side out toward Jefferson Street to see if we can maybe get some volunteers to come in and clean brush up so you can actually see back in there,” Ballenger said. “If you can see them, they might not mess with stuff.”
