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One by one, the City has been upgrading each park across town.
Last year, it became Hubie Gallagher's (HG) turn. After numerous onsite visits and resident input, a few things came to light.
The tennis court is basically non-functional. The plastic grid surface does not allow the balls to bounce properly. I concluded that we (the city) have gotten our money's worth out of the court that has been there since I was a child. That was in a different century.
Of all the possible improvements we could consider at the park, replacing the courts became the priority. We immediately began moving at the Speed of Government. What I can do in private business in six months will take closer to 18 months. During the Fall budget process, Councilman Jimmy Inman and I requested $300,000 from the Council in the 2025 budget. The budget passed in November and the money became allocated on January 1, 2025.
Now, here's the kicker: In Government, no work is allowed on the project until the money is allocated. No design, no project scope, no advertising for bids. So, it wasn't until January that I was allowed to select a firm to create drawings and specifications for bid purposes … then wait on that contract to be created and executed. Afterwards, the firm spent several weeks creating the plans. Once in hand, we then (by law) had to advertise for bids for 30 days. Once bids were in hand, our engineering department (and by department, I mean 4 people) had to vet their bids and qualifications. That process was completed two weeks ago. The next step was to create the contract document and execute same. Last week I finally signed the contract ($267,000). Then and only then, can the contractor begin ordering materials. Currently, I offer no timeline for completion.
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