Marshall Mitchell: Mitchell City Council to consider Hitchcock Park improvements

Yahoo

26-02-2025

Feb. 25—MITCHELL — If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
The Mitchell City Council is considering additional budget requests in the amount of $1.1 million for projects at Hitchcock Park not in the 2025 budget, including new lights over the tennis courts and over paths, and ripping out the tennis courts to install new ones. This will not be the first time the council has considered funding light replacements and tennis court improvements at Hitchcock Park.
During its regular meeting on Feb. 18, the council approved pickleball courts at Hitchcock Park for a price lower than the engineer's estimate, at the cost of infrastructure that lasted longer, required less maintenance and therefore, requires more taxpayer funding.
Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson compared the pickleball court project to the cost of replacing the eight tennis courts, and expressed the cost savings to the city for doing it right the first time.
"I looked at these tennis courts, and they're in rough shape. If we can spend $60,000 extra to avoid $780,000 in the future, I think it's worth looking at," Hanson said.
The figure refers to the current projected cost of replacing lights, light poles and all eight original tennis courts at Hitchcock Park, which were not built with post tension when they were installed. Post tension is a concrete method with tension cables that has a longer lifespan than conventional concrete.
Four of the eight tennis courts at Hitchcock Park were resurfaced in 2010, with an alternating schedule to resurface each set of four courts every three to five years, according to the maintenance schedule stated by then-Parks and Recreation Director Randy Ahrendt.
Additionally, lights over the original eight tennis courts at
Hitchcock Park were replaced in 2010 for $25,000
, in a 50/50 cost share between the Mitchell Tennis Association and the city.
The topics of unbudgeted money transfers, including the potential light, light poles and tennis court replacements, was tabled at the Feb. 18 council meeting so that City Administrator Stephanie Ellwein, who was out sick, could answer council questions in regard to supplemental budget requests.
Hitchcock Park, if the council approves, could receive new general path lighting in 2025 for $326,793. The plan is for the road that cuts through the park to have lights installed in an alternating pattern between one side of the street and the other. City park lights are on from dusk to 11 p.m, when the lights in the park turn off from a timer.
"If people use the park before or after the sun comes up or after it goes down, it'd be good to have lighting to get from point A to point B," Kevin Nelson, Mitchell parks and recreation director, told the Mitchell Republic.
Nelson cited evening dog walkers and events like Arts in the Park when vendors left property in the park overnight, for reasons to upgrade the lighting.
"It's kind of hard to keep security out there when the whole place is dark," Nelson said.
Additionally, perimeter lighting is to be installed around fences at the Mitchell Aquatic Center, to keep the outdoor pool area well-lit even after the lights in the park go out at 11 p.m.
Council president Kevin McCardle requested that the light poles and tennis courts be separated out into two supplemental budget item requests for discussion at the next meeting, as the $783,686 made it unclear what funding the original eight tennis courts needed separate from the lights over the courts.
The wooden light poles at the city ballfields and tennis courts, if not rotten, will be treated by a contractor and not replaced.
"I don't think (the tennis court light poles) are among the worst, but we've had requests to upgrade the lighting. If you upgrade the lighting, you look at the poles as well," Nelson said.
Jacob Dahme, Mitchell Tennis Association president, shared at the request of the council about the safety concerns that the original eight tennis courts pose and how there was an injury at the courts last year.
A full court replacement is being considered to address the safety concerns.
"And when that says resurfacing (in the council agenda), that doesn't mean just go out there and pour a new acrylic over it or epoxy, that's actually tearing out the concrete and putting in new concrete again. So that's a big project," Nelson said.
Additionally, there are four tennis courts near the baseball diamond at Hitchcock Park, which did not have concrete poured with post tension, a process that keeps the concrete tighter and less likely to crack. These courts were
added in late 2016 for $300,000
, with contributions from the city of Mitchell, the Mitchell School District, and the Mitchell Tennis Association.
"Those four (2016) tennis courts, they were not post tensioned," Dahme said. "That is something that our entire board regrets. Within the first two years, there were cracks on those courts. If we're going to do it, I think it'd be better to do it right. If it was my project, I would love to do (post tension)."