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NILES -- City council approved an ordinance to authorize the sale of bonds in the amount of $2,050,000 to cover the other half of the planned improvements to Waddell Park.
Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz said the funding potentially generated through the bonds will be used to install outdoor turf on South Field, infield and outfield turf on Stabile Field and Fiedor Field, fencing repairs, full road pavement including speed bumps and the parking areas will be redone as well.
In 2022, Niles was awarded a $2.5 million federal grant through Congressman Tim Ryan's office to go toward improvements at the park.
Mientkiewicz said through the grant funding, Waddell Park will receive a splash pad, turf on some of the baseball fields, a new playground and repairs to the park's road.
City Auditor Giovanne Merlo said the total investment being made in the park is about $4.5 million through the grant and bond funding.
Merlo said the city is "shooting for" a 15-year fixed-rate loan at about 4% interest rate.
Though the city has the cash needed to pay for the additional facilities, officials preferred to go the route of the bond to continue to earn the roughly 6% interest it would otherwise not earn on its $2 million.
"It's more fiscally responsible," Merlo said. "We're still going to be earning money on that $2 million that we keep in the general fund. We'd be earning roughly 6.5% in interest on that $2 million in the bank and only paying about 4% from a bond. So we're still netting a 2% return on our $2 million. So if we're still going to earn money on that $2 million, we might as well borrow the money."
Merlo told council members the city currently has two other bonds.
Mientkiewicz said the Waddell Park project has been a "rigorous process."
"There was a lot of red tape, a lot of... bureaucracy," he said. "The project is moving forward."
The mayor said the city is looking to have the construction contract for the improvements "signed, sealed and delivered," and break ground on the project within the next few weeks.
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