As spring break begins next week and warmer temperatures begin to draw closer, the Levelland community who won’t be traveling can look forward to spending time at the several parks location for outdoor activity.
City of Levelland Parks and Cemetery Director Dustin Reichelt and his crews have been spending the better part of the winter season battling the windy conditions as well as maintaining the grounds for all the parks and cemetery they are oversee.
“We want to keep our parks and cemetery clean for the community and one of the biggest things we have been dealing with is tumbleweeds continuously blowing through,” said Reichelt.
While colder temperatures continue to dominate the forecasts, Reichelt and his crew are starting their preventative maintenance for their equipment such as their mowers, weed eaters and blowers.
“We’ve already made our first cut at city park on a small patch of grass, but once the temperatures begin to warm up and the ground temperatures begin to warm up we start getting into mow season,” said Reichelt.
For the winter season, the department put together multiple outings for the snow hill at Lobo Hill. For the spring season, Reichelt says the community can expect a Parks Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 1st. The hunt will be at the city park at pavilion one at 10 a.m.
The hunt will open to anyone 12-years-old or under and it is free.
“It is going to be a great event for the kids and the community,” said Reichelt. “We will be providing the eggs and candy.”
Reichelt currently has two projects waiting for the approval of city council as the funding would be through the remaining ARPA funds. City staff brought several project options that could be funded through ARPA in a previous council meeting and are expected to make their final decision in the future where the remaining funds will be allocated.
However, Reichelt says that while those projects are on hold, the department has several small projects going on through their normal means of funding.
Currently, the crew is working on preventative maintenance at the baseball fields located at the Oxy Sports Complex.
The complex holds multiple fields and continues to draw multiple tournaments for baseball and softball throughout the spring and summer.
Additional projects that have already been passed and ready to be completed from last year’s Levelland Community Development Committee approval have been on hold due to supply chain issues.
Ranging from new park benches for city park and the gaga ball court for Bartlett Park have been on hold and Reichelt says a timeline for those is not possible at this current point in time.
At the sports complex, the soccer fields located to the north are on the list to receive lighting and were expected for this season, but getting in parts has been difficult as well.
Reichelt explained that their decision was to hold off installing the lights all together and revisit the project after the season is concluded in hopes of wrapping up the project collectively. For community members that utilize the soccer fields at the complex can expect the lights to be installed and working properly closer to June.
For this year’s LCDC projects, those include the demolition and renovations of the L.G. Griffin Park Pavilion, and the George C Price Park Pavilion will begin at the end of March as the 60-day waiting period will end around that time.