KIMBALL, Tenn. - Kimball Park is busier than ever, and now city administrators are trying to make it safer than ever, too.
In 2012, the city was awarded a $158,000 Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant to make significant upgrades to the park. That grant has a 50 percent match commitment, so Kimball has spent a total of $316,000 on various park additions.
Officials with the Recreational Education Services Division of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation found some "minor issues" at a grant inspection in May involving the park's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
In order to receive the grant funding by July 15, city leaders had to correct those problems.
At the June meeting of the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen, the board voted unanimously to approve labor-only quotes from Danny Hibbs Construction Co. in South Pittsburg, Tenn., for concrete work inside the complex.
The $9,710 plan includes constructing concrete sidewalks to some new pavilions that will be built between each of the complex's four ball fields and walkways and sitting areas to all of the dugouts.
"The purpose of all of this is to make everything at the park ADA accessible," Mayor Rex Pesnell said. "We're having to do that to satisfy the TDEC [requirements]. They won't release the money on the grant until we start that."
Alderman John Matthews made the motion to approve the funds for the concrete work, but that money won't be applied until the next fiscal year's budget starting on July 1.
"It has to be done," he said.
The board also voted unanimously to apply for the 2015-2016 Safety Partners Loss Control Matching Safety Grant through the Tennessee Municipal League to purchase two cardiac defibrillators for a total of about $2,500.
If awarded, the grant would pay for half of that cost.
One of those defibrillators would be placed at the sports complex, while the other would be kept at the town's fire hall. Kimball already has a defibrillator at city hall and another at the town's police department.
"When you have upwards of 1,000 people [at the park] with balls flying and bats and elderly people over there, it's well worth the money if it saves one person's life," Matthews said.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.