BLADENBORO — A new softball field is in the works for the Clarence McLean Park next to the agri-industrial area off Jr Britt Road, and is the headliner project the town is focusing on at the moment.
“The town is taking proposals and bids from qualified contractors,” said Blake Proctor, the town administrator.
The bids will be to grade and prep land for a 300-foot softball field. The construction will have three major phases: rough grading, finished grading and drainage construction. The chosen contractor will also have to make sure everything is accurately measured.
“Proposals will be accepted until 2 p.m., Feb. 26,” he said. “The consideration to award a contract will be made by the board of commissioners at their regular meeting 7 p.m. on March 9.
“We are hoping to start in late March or early April. This will be a brand new field, and we have a 200-foot Little League field there right now.”
Proctor said that this field will be diagonal almost from the one Little League field that is in place now.
Once the new field is in place, the town can then move forward with other parts of the project including ball field fencing, and would be the start of the second phase of the McLean PARTF Project. That part of the project will include $525,000 in funding, with $300,000 of that coming from the town and $225,000 coming from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
Miscellaneous items were also wrapped up at the last meeting. The board approved to continue using the same drug testing services. A bid for $26 was received for a bush hog that was being auctioned, and the bid was declined.
The town also recognized there has been extensive termite damage at the depot building, and that additional work was needed. The library needed work, so $1,000 went to that, and the rest of the $4,925 total was spent on the depot repairs and insurance.
“We ended up spending more on the depot than we thought,” said Proctor.
The proposed location for the new field is next to Bladenboro’s agri-industrial area at the McLean Park on Jr Britt Road.