ELBERTA - The Town of Elberta is on the final stage of completing its portion for fields one and six at the Sportsplex. These fields will be used to play softball and baseball by Elberta High School teams. If completed in time, this year’s seniors will begin playing on the fields come Feb. 18.

The town’s portion of the work on the fields includes putting up the lights and having them operational in time for the games. The poles have already been delivered to the Sportsplex and are in the process of being placed by Ellis Crane Works.

“The school has an enormous amount of work out there,” said Mayor Jim Hamby. “From the town’s perspective, all we’ve got to accomplish, which is a big all, is to have the lights up and operating by Feb. 18. The school’s taking the responsibility for everything else inside the fence, including the dugouts, the backstops, the bases, the infield, and the grass.”

The process of putting in irrigation has begun, and sod is being donated to cover the fields. Hamby said school officials are confident they’ll have the fields ready to play by the necessary date, and that the town is going to make every effort to have their portion complete in time.

While the Sportsplex project is moving forward, other projects have witnessed slight delays. The downtown sidewalk project is progressing, while the pre-construction conference for the road paving project had to be postponed due to illness within the crew.

“I’ve had some citizens inquiring about the projects, stating that it looks like things have started [but stopped],” said councilmember Vicky Norris. “I’m willing to bet if one person on a crew gets COVID, the whole crew gets shut down, so we’ve got to expect some of those kinds of delays, they’re very possible.”

Hamby said once the pre-construction conference happens, it’s usually not long before paving begins. Paving will start within the Miflin community once the project is underway.

For more information, visit https://townofelberta.com.