ELBERTA — It won’t be long before the Elberta Town Park gets an upgrade — at no cost to the town.

During Tuesday’s Elberta Town Council workshop, Councilman Michael Hudson announced that materials for the upgrade, which will include an enclosed kids park, have been donated by two businesses. He explained that Centennial Bank has committed $5,000 to the project. For that contribution, the park will be named Centennial Park. In addition, Home Depot in Foley donated materials needs for the park’s upgrade.

“We’ll be able to have a whole new park and it won’t cost the town anything,” Hudson told the Council.

Upgrades include the addition of a pavilion, picnic tables and benches, all of which will be constructed by Hudson and volunteers. In addition, the benches, which will be strategically placed throughout the park, will contain commemorative plaques bearing the name of individuals and businesses who have donated $250 toward the park’s improvement.

“I have about 10 of those sold,” Hudson said at the Council meeting.

Following Tuesday’s Council meeting, Hudson told Gulf Coast Newspapers that construction work on the park is expected to begin within the next 10 days.

Also Tuesday, the Elberta Town Council:

• Established lower sewer rates and fees and adopted service rules for the town sewer system.
• Changed the fee for renting the Elberta Civic Center to $500 on the day of a designated event and $100 for each additional day, effective June 1.
• Approved funding for new flooring of the Elberta Civic Center, which is estimated to be a five-week project that should begin in June.
• Changed the fee for plots in the Elberta Town Cemetery to $1,000 each, effective June 1.
• Approved Phase II of the Elberta Town Hall redesign project.
• Approved the Personnel and Finance Committee’s recommendation to increase Police Chief Stan DeVane’s salary by $2 per hour.