ALDERMEN

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The restroom upgrades are part of the parks and recreation department's strategic plan.

Starkville Parks and Recreation Director Gerry Logan said the drainage repairs at the Sportsplex would put a stop to the slippery areas surrounding the basins.

“Primarily around the soccer fields, we have some concrete drain basins,” Logan said. “They're fairly old, so we're having some basic failure. Basically, pipes are shifting, which is allowing water to get into places where it doesn't' belong, and that's causing washouts.”

Logan said the washouts were a hazard for children. “Small kids can slip and fall and get hurt,” Logan said. “Sometimes around those basins with the washouts, it opens up a pretty big, deep hole.”

He said the department had been searching for a solution to the problem for some time before discovering polyfoam. He said the repairs were much less intensive than what he expected the situation would require.

“We thought we're going to have to do a major construction project to rebuild all of those, but we did a little research and discovered Polyfoam Solutions,” Logan said. “It will fill voids. It will lift any sagging pipes. It should address everything that we need it to address for a much less expensive cost than what we originally expected.”

He said the department hoped to complete the project next week.

“We've got a big soccer tournament coming to town. so we will be able to get all that done, get it cleaned up, and it'll be looking great for that soccer tournament,” Logan said.

Logan said the issue was not causing issues as far as game cancelations or lost days of soccer.

“It was just a safety hazard within the park, ” Logan said. “This will address that.”

The design of new restrooms has been in the works for some time, and was present to the aldermen along with the rest of the department's strategic plan during a work session in March.

Logan emphasized that the approval was only for the design phase of the project. and said it would go before the board a few more times before construction began.

At J.L King Park, the new bathroom facilities are planned to be located near the football field. Logan said the location would potentially open the football field up for other events, and provide a much shorter walk to facilities.

“This is really the first three that we wanted to check off,” Logan said. “What was approved last night was the agreement to do the design for a new restroom at Patriot's Park, a new restroom at the J.L. King Park football field and a pavilion and restroom renovations at Moncrief Park.

“This allows the architectural firm to work on a lot of the design and then go from there,” Logan said.

Logan said the restrooms were heavily needed for the parks.

“This will allow people who use the walking track on that field to access a restroom much closer,” Logan said. “There's also events that get hosted at J.L. King, Park, and I think by putting this restroom out there, it kind of opens up that football field a little bit.”