GREENVILLE – The Greenville City Park is undergoing a much-needed facelift following the destruction caused by the 2024 tornado that ripped through the park.
Greenville Safety Service Director Ryan Delk was in the park Tuesday morning, along with Street Department Superintendent Matt Myers, as work continues to progress.
“The tornado that happened a little over a year ago caused complete devastation,” said Delk. “If you want to find a positive in it, it pushed us to get a lot of things done that needed to get accomplished.”
The park features hundreds of feet of new, six-foot-wide concrete sidewalks, along with new concrete pads at the open-sided shelters.
“Anytime you can make a park more handicap accessible or accessible for strollers and people to get around, that’s been a big focus on the whole city,” Delk stated. “Getting the sidewalks replaced and getting our sidewalks in our parks more accessible for walkers and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Compliant is what we are working on.”
Delk pointed out that the many enclosed shelter houses have been given a facelift with new metal siding and roofing in matching colors, along with new concrete pads and sidewalks around each, which have been nearly completed using city employees.
“We have a great group of guys that work at our street department,” said Delk. “I came from the street department, and that was always my focus and goal: to hire good people. A wise man once told me hiring someone for a job, hire someone who knows more than you, what you want them to do, don’t try to know more than them, and I have stuck to that and have had some good luck too, finding some good people, and they’re talented. A lot of them are a jack of all trades, with construction guys, concrete guys, electrical guys, and they are willing to take on any task that comes. They do great work and I am proud of them.”
Rayan Delk and Matt Meyers, both Greenville alumni, have worked together at the city for many years.
“Matt has his act together,” Delk said of his Street Department Superintendent. “I met Matt when he was 16, started the street department as a seasonal employee, I was young myself, in my early 20s, had just started full time, so we’ve known each other a long time. It’s always about the street department mainly, and he took over and has done a phenomenal job, I couldn’t be happier.”
