A city leader credited preventative maintenance of electrical equipment at Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Regional Park as succeeding in advance of floodwaters that covered the park earlier this month.
Greg Gustek, president of the Pine Bluff Festival Association, said Pine Bluff Convention Center Deputy Director Marty Huddleston and operations manager Byron Connor wrapped electrical boxes with a durable polyurethane coating and made sure the electrical boxes were anchored down.
“They did an extremely good job,” Gustek said. “[We are left with] minor repair and cleanup. They are reassessing the power boxes. They saved the city and the festival association a bunch of money.”
Heavy rains deluged Pine Bluff from late December to early January, flooding the park and forcing its closure.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency reimburses for preventative maintenance, Gustek said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We are saving the taxpayers dollars,” Gustek said.
April Layher, director of Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation, said she preferred minor damage as opposed to major damage. She will ask Gustek to calculate monetary costs associated with preventative maintenance measures, including the cost of equipment and labor, so she can apply to FEMA for reimbursement.
Gustek said he will determine such a number by mid-February.
These developments come after floods caused major damage to the park in May 2015 and June 2015. The Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department received about $53,000 in December from FEMA to recover from those earlier damages.
In other parks news, Layher said the Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department received a $2,500 grant from the Arkansas Forestry Commission. She said the commission will plant six trees at Martin Luther King Jr. Park as soon as possible.
The department received a Simmons Foundation grant of $25,000 to begin building a handicap-accessible playground at the Saracen Landing Splash Park.
The department also received a Greenfields Outdoor Equipment grant of $11,000 that requires a $20,000 match. The plan is to put exercise equipment in Regional Park next to the Civitan Playground, Layher said.
The department is also debuting a new website: www.pbparksandrec.com
Layher said the website enables people to take virtual tours of parks, pay fees and register for sports teams.