At Tuesday’s special meeting, the Carthage Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to award contracts for park construction to Sandhills Building Systems Inc. of Southern Pines.
“I was ecstatic about it,” Carthage Town Manager Carol Cleetwood said. “It is something we have been working for long and hard.”
Construction is expected to begin immediately, she told commissioners, with earthmoving and grading the first part of the job.
“When people see a bulldozer over there, they will know what’s happening,” she said. “We have over $49,000 in donations already, but a lot of people have told me they are just waiting for work to begin.”
A state grant of $229,486 is already on hand, so work can proceed even as future donations are sought for the town’s matching portion of the costs.
The total expense is projected at $531,933. Some donations already committed will pay part of that amount.
One additional recent donation, for children’s playground equipment, will reduce it by $12,000. The Buggy Festival Committee will be turning over another $5,000. The festival committee, in a separate session right before the town board meeting, voted to contribute the bulk of festival receipts to the park.
Mayor Larry Caddell said the park has been a dream of his for a long time.
This will be the first such park in the history of Carthage. The Moore County seat is one of the oldest towns in North Carolina. It was founded in 1796 during the administration of George Washington, whose cousin, George Glascock, served as the first clerk of court. A Gilbert Stuart portrait of the first president hangs in the town’s historical museum on the corner of the new park.
Cleetwood said the start of the park would be give a real boost to town morale.
“When they start to work over there, it is just going to lift everybody’s spirits, because they are going to know the park is coming,” she told The Pilot. “It is going to be a reality instead of a dream.”
The Carthage Recreational Park (whose official name has yet to be chosen) will have an improved, illuminated ball field. It will have tennis and volleyball courts, a basketball court, walking trails and barbecue grills.
A fenced playground for young children will be at the top of the hill, next to the elementary school. The Moore County School Board has agreed to subordinate its interest in property used for the park so the town can secure a loan for park completion.
The loan, still to be arranged, will keep the park project from being delayed for fund raising. Donations, not taxes, will repay the loan.
One unique feature is to be an outdoor theater. Music, pageants, drama and other celebrations, as well as sports and picnics, are expected to become regular events in Carthage once the park is completed.
“The committee is going to shift fund raising into high gear now,” Cleetwood said.
In other action at the special session, commissioners turned down a request for free use of the McDonald Building for gospel music programs for senior citizens. Charges for use of the town’s building are nominal, $10 per hour, and board members said they felt, in fairness, that every group should be treated alike.
A closed session on personnel matters concluded the called meeting, with no action following.
