Veterans Park field in Peru to get $52,500 in improvements

Improvements are coming to the Veterans Park in Peru to make the field better for Illinois Valley Community College and the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp, Director of Parks, Recreation and Special Events Adam Thorson said Monday.

The council approved $37,500 for outfield maintenance and $15,000 for the relocation of the park fence during Monday’s meeting.

“We’re removing a portion of the outfield fence to replace it from right center to left center to make the field more playable for IVCC,” Thorson said.

Thorson said the city also will be doing residing work and reworking the warning track to put grass down. The warning track is the dirt just before the outfield fence.

Mayor Ken Kolowski said the improvements are part of the city’s agreement with the Pistol Shrimp to continue making improvements to the field.

In other news:

The city will be replacing six decorative handrails within the city as a safety precaution, Director of Engineering and Zoning Eric Carls said.

“Those handrails have deteriorated over the years,” he said. “We were notified by the businesses in the area. Public works went over and put some caution tape on them for the meantime, but we are starting to get those in and have them installed.”

The handrails along the northside of Fourth Street from Pike Street to Schuyler will be replaced for $2,800 per handrail.