LOCK HAVEN - The city could soon have a playing field just for T-ball.
Joel Long, president of Lock Haven-Flemington Little League, a member of the city Recreation Board and a Clinton County commissioner, gained City Council's support Monday for the Little League to fence off an idle portion of Hoberman Park and designate it just for T-ball.
The fence, he said, would be for safety and "to hold the kids in, not that they're going to hit the ball out."
This year's goal is to get the infield cut out and bases installed at that new field, he said.
The local Little League association also is fixing up fields in Castanea, all to accommodate the surge of interest in the sport since the Keystone team played its way to the World Series last summer. More than 200 kids came out for the sport this year, Long said.
Once the work is complete, the organization will have six fields for 17 teams, he said.
Council members gave permission once they heard City Recreation Director Jack Bailey had approved the plan.
In other business at the meeting, council:
- Officially approved how to spend the $300,000 it expects as its 2012 Community Development Block Grant. Projects include paving West Main Street from Fourth to Water Street, milling and paving work in the East Water Street parking lot, and helping both the Clinton County Women's Center and the Salvation Army Community Center become handicap-accessible.
- Voted to pay Lee Simpson Associates an additional $14,168 to design airport lighting changes. The engineering firm is designing improvements to the runway, and Council voted last month to pay $16,084 more than the original contract to deal with the fact that the lights will have to be moved.
The runway is to be milled and paved this summer, and it will be narrowed at the same time, from 100 feet to the regulation 75 feet. Moving the lights close in to the newly-narrowed runway has been added to the project.
The airport uses the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) lighting system, City Manager Richard W. Marcinkevage said, and PennDOT has recommended that necessary changes to the PAPI system be included in the project as well.
The increase in construction costs should be small, he said, and the money, including a large PennDOT grant, is in place to get the work done. The project could go to bid next month and could be accomplished in June, as long as it does not interfere with the Fly-In, set for June 20 to 23.
The runway will be closed for three days for milling and paving, council heard.
- Heard the state Department of Environmental Protection accepted the sewage treatment plant's latest operations report, with the comment that there is still too much groundwater seeping into local sewage systems. The report shows wastewater flow was so high at times that in 27 different instances, sewage that hadn't been fully treated had to be bypassed out of the system into a local waterway.
Marcinkevage noted 2011 was a very wet year, and storms always increase the flow.
- Met Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts and supported the idea of the girls visiting local businesses and encouraging them to recycle. Daisy troop leader Joni MacIntyre said the goal is to recruit 10 to 15 businesses and to "change the world one piece of recycled paper at a time."
- Granted the use of watershed roadways in the McElhattan area to the Durty Dabbers Motorcycle Club for its annual Dual Sport Ride, set for June 2 and 3, noting the organization always cleans up after its events.
- Heard Comcast has cable price changes coming May 1.
- Took note of a $5,000 contribution to the city's Summer Concert Series by the Wayne Township Landfill.
- Announced the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the newly restored train station will be held Wednesday, May 9 at 5 p.m. An open house inside the station, now the home of the Clinton County Arts Council, will follow, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Heard Councilman Richard L. Conklin report a car has been parked at West Main and First streets for about two weeks, with one of the city police department's "boots" on a tire. The boot, which stops the car from being driven, is employed when a vehicle is to have outstanding warrants. Conklin asked what the next step is for this vehicle, and Marcinkevage said it can be impounded.
- Held an executive session, closed to the public, on personnel.
