Orange Council approves money to convert park tennis court

A tennis court at a city park will soon be transformed into a basketball court.

The Orange City Council approved a budget amendment at their regular meeting on March 10 for $30,000 from the 2014 Park Capital Account for the reconditioning of the basketball/tennis courts at Solomon Johnson Park. The motion will be formally approved by ordinance when the next budget amendment is adopted.

Councilman Bill Mello voted no to the motion because he didn't like the way the project was funded.

Jim Wolf, public works director, reported the city received a significant amount of money from the sale of some property on Interstate 10 to the Cecil Toyota dealership. The remaining balance is $70,540.

Wolf wrote in a memo it will cost $30,000 to fund the project and perform the required work.

“We respectfully request that $30,000 be approved for a future budget amendment allowing the expenditure of funds at this time,” he wrote.

Plans include removing paint, cleaning and pressure washing the old tennis court, and laying out one full basketball court and two half courts.

Other work includes repairing all cracks on the existing basketball court and then applying Sundek cement coating in solid texture. Layout and paint regulation lines for both goals with no sides lines will also be done.

Councilman Bill Mello asked Wolf if the project qualified for Community Development Block Grant money.

Wolf answered it does qualify, but the CDBG money will be used for the splash pad project at Navy Park and a skate park at Sunset Park.

A resolution was approved to extend the agreement with Consultant Tim Richardson for a six-month period for consulting work related to the city seeking BP Deepwater Horizon restoration funding.

The funding will be used to build a regional wastewater system.

The term of the agreement will be April 1, 2015 and expire on October 1, 2015. The monthly invoice of $4,000 as approved in the original agreement will remain the same.

City Manager Shawn Oubre said the restoration funding is based on the value of each barrel of oil leaked form the well. Values from the Exxon Valdez incident are being compared to present day values.

Jamie Wilson, Elgin Browning, Dorothy Brandon, Edward Freiberg and Ruth Hancock were reappointed to the Board of Adjustment for terms ending Dec. 31, 2016.