News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Algood City Council approved the repaving and restriping of the Algood tennis court Tuesday nights.
City Administrator Keith Morrison said the bid of some $75,000 is some $24,000 over what the city budgeted for the project. He said the first time the project was put out for bids, the city received no bids. He said the court has holes and cracks large enough to swallow an entire tennis ball.
“I don’t know what other things to even try to find,” Morrison said. “I’ve tried to track down tennis court companies to see if I could get somebody to come in here and talk to me and tell me, ‘Hey, if you’ll do this, that might get you where you want to be,’ and then put it out to bid, but I haven’t had any luck with that either.”
Vice Mayor Luke Hill said the court could become a liability concern if the damage gets any worse. He said based on photos he saw of its condition, it was time to fix it or close it.
City Council Member Ron Graves said the city has real needs to fix in its parks, including these tennis courts before putting any more money in the “muddy swamp,” referring to the new Algood park project.
Morrison said the original project included new fencing and updates to the lights, but the first bid got no takers.
“Of course, we had that architect do the designs to add the pickleball court, the restrooms, the walking track, and do the whole shebang, and that was estimated at $400,000,” Morrison said. “And looking at this, that would probably be pretty accurate, would be my guess.”
Morrison said they will try to reuse the fencing already in place, but expected it would need to be taken down to do the paving. He said the city could try to get the current lighting system working again.
He said part of the expense could be the rubberized material that goes over the top of the concrete pavement. She said net posts would have to be taken out and reinserted as part of the project as well.
“I don’t know what else to suggest to you all,” Morrison said. “I’ve tried every avenue that I thought would get this into a doable project and it is not getting there.”
