After a brief delay, a project to upgrade Smith Park in Marshall is advancing.

The Marshall City Council recently approved the city manager to finalize and executive contracts, not to exceed $200,000, with Play & Park Structures and E4 Contracting.

“Back in June 2024, as part of the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) annual action plan, there was identified $285,000 in carried over funding, and you all approved the use of that for Smith Park improvements,” Alex Agnor, assistant city manager, recently told the council.

“We had some issues with the contractor and all of that, and so the project has been stalled,” she said. “We have since engaged with two corporations, so it’s Play & Park Structures and E4 Contracting that will be subcontracting with Southern Custom Services.”

She noted that Play & Park Structures will complete the installation of the musical patio part of the project, which will consist of the addition of chimes, a harp and drums. Additionally, outside of the original plan, the company proposed the incorporation of a tween-mate swing and reflections selfie swing.

Agnor explained that the reflections selfie swing allows adults to take a selfie while swinging with their children.

“The other one is a tween-mate swing, so it’s basically two people swinging at one time,” she said. “So those are just additional amenities and improvements that we’ll be able to have.”

The contract also includes the installation of a 30×30 shade canopy at a cost of $24,000. The shade structure will hover over the musical patio. E4 Contracting will be responsible for pouring the concrete pad for the shade canopy and musical patio area.

E4 Contracting also will construct the proposed loop/walking trail around the softball field of the park.

“There’s also going to be the site prep and dirt work affiliated with that. And then, they will be relocating the playground swing and also the mulch and the border timbers in one section of the park,” Agnor said. “If you look, one of the swing sets has got all of the toddler swings, and the reason for that is there’s not enough clearance for standard size swings, so as part of that, they can expand that mulch area, relocate the position of that swing set and then can install the other swing equipment that they recommended.”

E4 Contracting also will resurface the asphalt basketball court, which Agnor said she agrees will be a more durable, long-lasting solution.

“In order to do the concrete or the asphalt for the court, they will have to take down one side of the backstop fencing, and it is their goal to utilize the existing materials to be able to put that back up,” she said.

The company also will do the court striping. E4 Contracting will additionally remove the two existing goals and install new vertical basketball goals.

Agnor said city officials are pleased to finally move forward with the Smith Park improvement project.

“This has been a high priority project for not only the City Council but also the community wanting to get that project back going and running strong,” she said.

She said there will be two contracts based on the scope of work, but the combined total amount is not to exceed $200,000.

“If you looked at everything in their proposals, it’s roughly a little over $182,000, but we’ve asked for a little bit of wiggle room and contingency so as things come up and we have change orders, we’ll have authorization and we’re not holding up the process should we need to come back,” she said.

“We want to end up with a project that the community and the council and everyone can be proud of, the project that we envisioned,” Agnor said. “It’s just going to have a little bit of tweaks to it, but we will be having contracts in place with those timelines.”