A pair of major occupation tax grants for community projects were approved by the Gering City Council this week, but not without Mayor Kent Ewing casting the deciding vote on each.
308 United Softball and the City had a joint application for more than $106,000 for eight new shade structures over the softball and baseball fields at Dome Rock Diamonds.
Asked about a note that the city would need to set aside about $1,000 per year toward future replacement costs, Engineer Annie Folck explained that would be for the fabric shades only. “The frame part really should be fine. We believe we shouldn’t have to replace the frame part of it, and that should outlast all of us, actually. But that’s just for the fabric part, because that does have an unexpected life expectancy of around 15 years or so,” Folck said.
Also approved was a grant of $20,000 toward a new $220,000 playground project at the Legacy of the Plains Museum.
Only five council members were present, and when one voted ‘no’ on one of the proposals, and another had to abstain on the second, Ewing had to cast the deciding vote approving both.
