Paola City Council members have authorized the start of multiple projects expected to be funded by half-cent sales tax revenue, but one council member is asking the city to pump the brakes on the plan for new ballparks at Wallace Park.
Council members approved an ordinance that authorizes the issuance of General Obligation Bonds totaling an estimated $6.7 million, which includes $4.2 million for two new turf ballfields and related items at Wallace Park and $2.5 million for improvements to the Paola Family Pool. The Ordinance also authorizes the estimated cost of $1.2 million for stabilization of the Lake Miola Dam.
Council member Leann Shields asked them to hold off on the ballfields due to two of them being built in a flood plain and she didn’t want them approved until the state approved.
She also suggested that if the council members wanted to keep the ballfields in Wallace Park, a better location would be the site of the old Armory where the concrete pad is located east of the main entrance; however, the Ordinance passed 3-1 with Shields voting against it.
