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Pickleball Court, Street Paving, Christmas Decorations — Century Discusses How To Spend ARPA Funds
December 6, 2022
A pickleball court for Century? Well, maybe.
Pickleball is a sport that combines the elements of tennis, ping-pong, and tennis. It’s a fast growing sport, and municipalities across the country are building courts or repurposing old tennis courts for a relatively low cost.
And that’s what Century may do with an unused tennis court at Showalter Park.
Century was awarded over $924,000 American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds from the federal government. Monday night, the town council met in a workshop to discuss some possible uses for the money.
Discussions included the pickleball court and other improvements like scoreboards and new playground equipment for three ballparks.
Other items discussed included:
- Town hall — $71,000 for flooring, furniture, laptops and finally upgrading their Microsoft Office licenses from Office 2010 to Office 2021. (Support for Office 2010 ended in October 2020, per Microsoft.)
- Tablets for workers in the field for use with utility mapping software for about $1,612 for five.
- $15,000 digital sign at the town hall entrance, with the West Florida Libraries contributing half of the cost
- Utility projects
- Street paving
- American flags for utility poles
- New Christmas decorations
The ARPA money is not sufficient to cover a needed bridge repair on Freedom Road. Mayor Ben Boutwell noted that he is looking at other funding sources.
For about $200,000 of the funds, the town already approved the purchase of wastewater equipment including a vacuum trailer, bypass pump, a water pump and a “jetter trailer” with sewer machine and camera system. A jetter trailer uses high pressure water to clear sewage blockages.
Monday night’s meeting was a discussion-only workshop. Any purchases will be approved at future meetings.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
12 Responses to “Pickleball Court, Street Paving, Christmas Decorations — Century Discusses How To Spend ARPA Funds”
We tried using the tennis courts for tennis for years. Why weren’t they repaired for that long ago. Theyve been torn up, weeds growing thru them, an huge profanity spray painted on them and that wasn’t addressed spite tons of kids using that park.
I used to live in the apartments on Freedom Road. That bridge has been broken for over 2 years. To even access Freedom road, you must exit to the highway first. It’s a ridiculous waste of time. Putting funds towards fixing that bridge should be a priority. Instead, the town of Century wants itself to become a broken wasteland. I find it of utmost priority to fix the bridge. Come on, really. Let’s get work done here. Let’s build a better community.
Please, please, please fix the roads in Century! Also, I’m not sure who handles HWY 29 that runs through our town, but it definitely needs some attention too. I would love to see money being spent to improve the town as a whole.
Still say use it to pay off some of your bills.
I totally and wholeheartedly agree with @tg. They need to put some of that money in savings for emergencies and for forgotten essentials. God knows they’ve been down and out many, many times before!
Hopefully they use their brains and pick the right projects to spend the money on. Christmas decorations and new flags aren’t urgent. Citizens could donate those items or just do without.
the streets need to be tended to. The community needs so much more than what they are allocating this money to. Oh and lets not forget all of the drainage ponds and what not that need attention !!
This little town could be so much more if every aspect of it was taken care of. Do better yall, DO BETTER !
I know little about pickle ball,but there is an old tennis court at Lake Stone also.
Hopefully a lot of good things will be done around Town with the money
Why not use some of the money to make the necessary upgrades to the concession stand at Showalter Park to bring it up to code? I’m sure Century Little League would really appreciate it. Let’s do something for the kids.
Please pave Briggs Blvd.
Its better to save for the next FIASCO.
Excited to read about the potential of Pickleball courts. It’s becoming very popular. Bay Minette is probably the nearest court.