GREENVILLE – Under the direction of Greenville Safety Service Director Ryan Delk, the city park has a beautiful addition and improved safety conditions with the addition of a new sidewalk, lighting, and hand railing along one of the city’s ponds.
“This is one of those projects I have wanted to do for a long time,” said Delk. “The old sidewalk ended to nowhere and then just pushed you out in the street.”
The updates replace an old guard rail that created a hazard to walkers and children bikers forcing them into the street and bringing concerns to Delk.
“People came out on the road, and kids on bicycles with an ugly guard rail, it was tight so we started talking about how could we add a sidewalk, can we remove that guard rail,” Delk said. “So we applied for a grant through the Darke County Parks Department two years ago, and they funded the sidewalk portion.”
The grant provided the materials for the sidewalk portion of the project, and city employees provided the labor internally.
“We have a great group of guys that do concrete work for us,” Delk stated. “All of them have a lot of experience. They are a great asset for the city regarding the concrete side.”
With the unsightly guard rail removed and a gravel bank added to stabilize the bank, the project included the addition of a taller-than-typical sidewalk.
“We had some concerns about taking the guardrail up because change is always fearful, so we made the curb a little taller than a normal curb,” noted Delk. “We went 8-10 inches where 6 inches is normal.”
The 2024 budget included funds for lighting and the sturdy handrail, which add beauty and character to the project.
“Our thought is it’s safer to walk to get access to the park and enjoy nature and enjoy the pond,” Delk said. “It finishes off this area with the bike path on the back side of the pond and easier access to the city pool.”
Greenville has made great strides to improve the city park over the past several years, but the recent tornado devastated the park.
“We were getting the park to a place where everything had been touched and cleaned up,” Delk shared. “We could start focusing in on projects like these, adding little bits here and there. We did a lot over the last several years with lighting out here and redoing shelters and painting.”
“The tornado was a big hit,” he continued. “We’re going to rebuild, and it will be back to normal soon as well. We lost about 150 trees. We ground 130 stumps this week, and we had another 20-30 trees that were uprooted, so we removed the stumps. Now we’re in the process of cleaning up. We’re putting a plan together for replanting the trees, and we have a lot of structures to repair and rebuild.”
Delk quickly credited his city employees for the new sidewalk, lights, and railing and the exceptional task of cleaning up the city park and many city areas.
“Our street department employees did everything,” Delk said. “We have an in-house electrician that did all the lighting, we have concrete guys and they’re all kind of jacks of all trade employees. They are a huge benefit to the city in terms of what they can do. Right here is a prime example of what they can do.”
“We have a beautiful city and a wonderful park system,” Delk concluded. “This is just one more step to keep it maintained and keep it safe. We want it for generations to come.”
