By Lee Reinsch
Correspondent
DE PERE – Part of the money set aside for upgrades at at a local park will be reallocated for maintenance projects on the downtown Riverwalk.
The De Pere Common Council voted unanimously, Tuesday, Oct. 1, in favor of redirecting $5,000 of the $16,000 set aside for a lighting project for softball fields at Southwest Park to the Riverwalk.
Part of the Southwest Park plans included paving a portion of the entryway to the park, and that part of the project was scrapped after bids came in higher than anticipated.
“We just didn’t think it made sense to spend that much money on pavement, so we decided to eliminate that,” said Marty Kosobucki, director of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry for the City of De Pere.
Projects along the Riverwalk that need upkeep aren’t limited to any single segment of the walk, but spread throughout, he said.
The Riverwalk bridge has become slightly out of alignment and will need repairing and readjusting by the local contractor, Kosobucki several of the bollard lights have clouded lenses or have yellowed over the years and should be replaced.
In addition, he said several planks on the riverwalk are cracked, not yet to the level of danger, and need to be replaced.
“It’s a concern for us,” Kosobucki said.