At a brief meeting of the Southgate City Council, City Clerk Brandi Barton announced that the city had received a grant to install three benches in the city’s Community Center Park. The benches will be installed later in the summer after other park improvements are completed.
The Duke Energy Foundation grant will reimburse the city up to $4,031 to purchase the benches.
The city’s public works department, led by City Foreman Arvil Bowman, is restoring an area near the Southgate Optimists Club Park that once had tennis courts. The crew is turning it into a small park and green space. That project is funded through a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund 50/50 match grant received last spring, which was made available to communities for park and recreational improvements.
Demolition of the courts has already taken place. Council member Paul Melville reported the crew is in the process of seeding and putting straw down in the area as the weather allows.
Bowman and his staff will soon be busy demolishing the old playground equipment in Community Center Park and installing new playground equipment purchased by the city. He said the city’s streets program will also be underway soon. He could not give an exact date on the benches (which are yet to be selected and purchased) but they will add to the many improvements in the park this season.
“There are trails around the park and around the lake, and that’s where we’re going to put the benches. It will be nice to have the benches around the park for people who are walking the trails or who just want to sit in the park,” Barton said.
