Lindsay Craven | The Yadkin Ripple

Yadkin County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting of the month on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. The board heard a presentation from Jason Walker regarding the progress of the county park.

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Yadkin County Board of Commissioners was given a presentation on Monday, Oct. 1 on the progress of the Yadkin County Park located behind the Yadkin Family YMCA.

Parks and Recreation Department Head Jason Walker said that a number of improvements and changes were made at the park in the last fiscal year. The pool was plastered because cracks and uneven spots on the pool’s floor were causing patrons injuries.

Several renovations were made to the pool house including removal of carpet and application of non-slip paint, cleaned and freshly painted bathrooms, removal of a broken water fountain, and new landscaping around the pool gates.

Walker said county employees also repaired exhaust fans in the pool house, installed new doors and an air conditioning unit in the game room and replaced 75 percent of the old pool chairs that were broken.

Walker said that the grass on the ball fields and other areas of the park were also over seeded with Bermuda grass to make the fields look greener. Concrete steps were also installed at the ball fields by Forbush High School students. The concrete steps replace the cross ties that were there before. Walker said that the cross ties would become extremely slick and unsafe after inclement weather and the new steps make the area much safer.

Trees and brush were cleared out of the area surrounding the upper pond at the park to make the pond more visible and accessible to park patrons. The County will also be teaming with the N.C. Wildlife Association to build a pier and stock the pond with 500 catfish a month during fishing season.

A new playground was purchased and installed by county employees. The playground is complete except for the entrance sign which has been postponed due to issues with the sign company. New signs are being priced and Walker said they hope to have a sign up at the entrance in the next few months.

Walker said that county employees have also been working to re-grade and repair the walking trail at the park but a lot of their progress has been destroyed or washed away in the heavy rains the county has received recently. Walker said that they walking trail will be an item that the county will continue working on for some time before they achieve the results they would like to see.

Walker said that next fiscal year the county hopes to have finished two parking lots by the ball fields, the installation of a maintenance shed for county employees, new fences around the ball fields, re-grading of the ball fields to prevent rainwater buildup, repair of the lower pond and new soccer goals.

Walker said that the county has already purchased a new mower for the park and has done the over seeding of the ball fields. The county also hopes to install an irrigation system but it will be dependent on the costs of the parking lots.

Walker said that the ball fields will also be receiving scoreboards from the Pepsi Company. In return the concessions at the field will only be allowed to serve Pepsi products and Pepsi will deliver the beverages to the concessions each week. Walker said that this should not cause any problems as the concessions already served Pepsi products.

All of the county commissioners commended Walker and his staff for the work they had accomplished at the park and expressed excitement for the projects to come in this fiscal year.

Other items from the Oct. 1 meeting:

-The board voted 5-0 to approve the Dental Staffing of the Carolinas contract, which will provide dental clinic staff pending approval from the county’s finance officer and the county attorney.

“I don’t want the board to stand in the way of this at all,” Commissioner Chairman Kevin Austin said. “I’d love to see the dental clinic back up and running.”

-The board voted 5-0 to approve the declaration of property located at 1021 Catherine Lane as surplus land and to allow County Manager Aaron Church to look into the upset bid process. The board will be presented with what the manager has found at a later date and will set the lowest bid price the county will accept at that time.

-The board voted 5-0 to authorize staff to prepare for the establishment of a community development housing selection committee that will oversee applications for candidates and alternates in Yadkin County who could receive federal funding for home repairs.

“With the county taking over this committee I feel really good about Community Development Block Grant funds coming into the county,” Austin said.

-County Manager Aaron Church reported that jail construction is still operating on schedule despite the weather. He says that contractors have poured two footers.

-The board announced that there will be a public workshop for the Yadkin County Transportation Plan in the commissioner’s room on Oct. 11 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

-The board announced that there will be a joint Board of Education meeting on Oct. 29 hosted by the Yadkin County Board of Education. The location and time for the meeting is still not set.

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.