Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City Council Hears Parks Update

Renovating the tennis courts at City Park was the hot topic for the Prescott City Council, when it met Monday, March 19.

When all was said and done the council agreed to pay $1,500 for its part of the repair work.

However, the repairs will cost $3,500. The remaining $2,000 will come from the Prescott Tennis Association and Prescott School District.

Joyce Martin, representing the tennis group, presented proposals for having repairs made, along with a complete renovation of the four courts. The renovation would cost $120,000 to do.

She said the local association competes against teams from Malvern and Arkadelphia, but these players don't want to come to Prescott, because of the condition of the courts.

The idea of the association, she said, is for half the matches to be on the road, with the rest being home matches.

But with cracks in the courts, grass growing through the cracks, water standing on one court and the nets not being regulation height, no one wants to come to Prescott. In fact with the cracks, she said, playing on the courts are hazardous.

In addition, she said, the backboard is rotted and about to fall down.

Along with this, Martin said, the Prescott High School tennis team practices and plays on these courts. She reminded the council several PHS students earned college scholarships for their play on the courts and two recent graduates are playing college tennis.

The association, she said, asked the city to perform routine maintenance on the courts to keep them repaired and in playable condition so they will be safe.

Parks Director Steve Crow said the association and school have always taken turns replacing the nets. But, he pointed out, the nets can't be adjusted as the crank used to make the adjustment was taken home by someone to keep it from being stolen, only to be lost.

Martin said one crank could be used on all of the nets.

The problem for the parks department, Crow said, is this repair work wasn't included in the budget, as he had been told the association would take care of it.

City Attorney Glenn Vasser informed the council the courts are owned by the city, though they were originally built by both the city and school district.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor appointed a committee of Ann Stockton, Howard Austin and Danny Beavert to look into the court condition and report back as soon as possible.

Martin said the repairs could last two or three years, depending on the weather.

Taylor said he would have someone make a crank in the city shop, with the council voting to give $1,500 to get the repair work underway.

According to Martin, the association didn't schedule any matches in Prescott this season, because of the conditions the courts are in, but the PHS team still uses them, and the annual tennis tournament during the Chicken and Egg Festival will be on these courts as well.