Page 7 - Sanger Herald 2-22-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 7A THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018
Ribbon cutting ceremony celebrates renovated Sanger Park
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
A smiling Mayor Frank Gonzalez cut the ribbon appropriately held by Frank Sani and Jay Acosta to commemorate the renovation of Sanger Park and the re-opening of park facilities. L-R: Tim Chapa, city manager; Frank Sani, public works supervisor; Frank Gonzalez, mayor; John Mulligan, public works director; Jay Acosta, public works employee; Juan Gonzalez, public works employee; and Eddie Gonzalez, public works employee.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
"Adapt, improvise and overcome."
That's one of the Marine Corps mottos and it might have been the theme of Frank Sani's approach to renovating Sanger Park's picnic area and stage, providing more lighting, trimming trees and cutting back bushes to provide more vis- ibility.
Frank is the city's innovative public works supervisor and he and his crew of Jay Acosta, Juan Gonzalez and Eddie Gon- zalez improvised and overcame obstacles involved in doing a major makeover of the old park on Academy Avenue so well they saved the city about $175,000.
Mayor Frank Gonzalez, city manager Tim Chapa and public works director John Mulligan heaped praise on Sani's effort and results at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Feb. 15 to commemorate the park makeover.
"We budgeted more than $230,000 to upgrade the park bathrooms and take care of some other issues and Frank got everything done for about $65,000," was the mantra echoed by beaming city officials during the brief ceremony in front of the newly painted and re-roofed stage and during a tour that followed.
The stage and the concession/picnic area have new roofs and a fresh coat of graffiti resistant paint.
The lighting has been converted to LEDs that provide more light at less cost, said Mulligan.
"Frank used a tall lamp post that was removed from Academy Avenue during an early stage of widening work to provide better lighting on the park's basketball court, stage and concession areas," said Mulligan.
John Mulligan shows off the stainless steel sinks in the newly painted Sanger Park bathrooms.
"We used all local companies to do the painting and tree trimming," said Mulligan. "The park looks so good now we're hoping we can move some of the downtown events to the park."
Mulligan is hoping the almost unbreakable stainless steel bathroom fixtures will thwart the efforts of vandals who have damaged park facilities all over Sanger.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerherald@ gmailcom or by phone at the Herald office, (559) 875-2511
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