Franklin County moves forward on soccer field and basketball court at DW Wilson park

Franklin County commissioners have agreed to seek bids for a soccer field and basketball court at the DW Wilson Sports park in Apalachicola.

The commission spent a lot of time discussing the issue, basically because there is a lot of desire to get the soccer field built, but the costs are likely too much for the county to cover using tax dollars.

The initial estimate for the soccer field and the basketball court was about 114 thousand dollars, but that doesn’t include the electrical and lighting work that would need to be done.

Commissioners guessed that the total project would likely run over 200 thousand dollars.

Commissioner Noah Lockley said he would be willing to cover the cost using capitol outlay, even though it might deplete that fund, but Commissioner Pinki Jackel said she could not support that.

Commission Jackel recommended that the county seek state grant funding over the next year as it has for other sports fields in the past.

The Franklin County Youth soccer League said they just want to see the work get started because they have been asking for a soccer field for years and so far they have nothing to show for it and mean

The board discussed a number of options – but in the end they felt it would be wisest to bid out the whole project so they would know exactly what it will cost.

It will likely be late August before the bid process is complete, and by then the board can see whether it has to find state money or whether it can find enough county money to complete the field. while the kids in the soccer program are getting hurt by playing on inadequate fields.

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