NATCHEZ, Miss. – More than $2 million in renovations for Chester Willis Field should be finished in a week to be ready for baseball games, according to the project’s architect, but Adams County supervisors are still trying to find more money to build toilet facilities and locker rooms.
“The bulk of the facility is ready for use,” said landscape architect Joey Furr, who’s been managing the county-owned Liberty Park baseball venue’s renovations. “The field looks really good.”
However, more money is needed for restrooms for game spectators and locker space for ball players.
While the costs for this have not been finalized, the amount will exceed the $2.2 million already budgeted for the project, which installed artificial turf, new bleachers, dugouts, fencing and lights.
Funds for renovating the 600-seat baseball venue came from revenues the county board has from selling bonds that will be repaid to investors with interest added over several years.
The old restrooms are barely functional, Furr said, and the baseball locker rooms are also in bad shape.
Meeting Wednesday with Furr, county supervisors indicated their intention to seek contractors’ bidded prices for new toilets and locker space, but they put that off until getting a better handle on how this will be funded. Supervisors also said they’ll ask the Natchez-Adams School District board to consider providing funds for the aged baseball venue used by Natchez High School.
Supervisors did approve spending an extra $20,000 for installing iron-like decorative gating to block free access to the ballfield.
Work began last summer to renovate the facility, which dates back to the 1940s when minor-league baseball clubs played there. Natchez and Cathedral high school teams play there now. It’s been upgraded to collegiate-playing standards for Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College, which have branch campuses in Natchez.
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