By Martin Couch

Bryant Mayor Larry Mitchell had some concerns that information about Bishop Park spending an additional $2.1 million to complete construction of a state-of-the-art park, might be misinterpreted by the public.

First and foremost, he said, all money spent to build Bishop Park was approved by the City Council.

The original idea of the park was started by the initiative of several different groups of people within Bryant, calling themselves People of the Park, who got together and wanted a new city park. These groups were made up of aquatics, baseball, softball, soccer, the Boys and Girls Club, the Senior Adult Center and others. It was decided there was a need for a community center for all of the people, not just one special group.

A special election to initiate a 1-cent sales tax within the city to build the park was held in July of 2007 and passed by the citizens 61 percent to 39 percent. ETC, a special engineer firm which was constructing a similar park in Paragould, was called on to draw up plans for Bishop Park. At the time, the Paragould Park cost $16 to $17 million dollars to build and Bryant's park would be close to that price for basics, according to a study by ETC.

At that point, the city hired ETC to start designing a park for Bryant and all the different groups who had originally put together the initiative sat down and worked with the design.

"So we ended up with a very, very nice park with nine baseball fields, six softball fields, two soccer fields, three indoor basketball courts, a Boys and Girls Club, a Senior Adult Center, aquatics and so forth," Mitchell said. "It is a tremendous showpiece for central Arkansas, not just Bryant."

Of course, with the changes and expansions, the price increased for Bishop Park.

"It's like building a house," Mitchell described. "You know what you want in the basic house and then start adding on things. That's basically what happened. The people wanted a bigger Boys and Girls Club and a bigger Senior Adult Center and they wanted eight lanes in the pool instead of six and a diving well. And the list kept going on of requests to put into the plan."

The plan that ETC drew up after consulting with the groups was presented to the City Council and approved.

"Any change that was made was approved through the City Council," Mitchell said. "At that time, though, when you do that, the price goes up as part of that. So when the $16 million came in, it wasn't enough to cover it all."

The plan took a lengthy period to complete by ETC and, during that time, interest on the bond money was growing in the bank.

"The interest rates were quite a bit higher then than they are today and we were able to draw a million dollars on interest off of that 16 million dollars during that period of time," Mitchell said. "Also on the ballot, the initiative was a 1-cent sales tax and a lot of people think that the whole cent goes to the park. It doesn't. Only half of that penny goes to pay off bonds; 1/8 of the penny goes to the operations and management of the park and 3/8 goes to the fire department. When the bonds are paid off, half of that cent comes off and the other half stays on and goes to the operations of the park and the fire department."

That 1/8 cent that started being collected in November of 2007, brought in another $1 million creating $2 million extra to pay for the expansion of the park project. That $2 million still wasn't enough to pay for all the projects, so the City Council agreed to refinance the Fire and Police Department, which brought in an additional $2.1 million dollars to take care of the rest.

"At this point, the park isn't opened yet and there are a few things that may not be covered in the $2.1 million at this time," Mitchell said.

According to the finance office of the city, funding for the splash pad at the aquatics center, the skateboard park and two pavilions will be covered in the $2.1 million. 

"The City Council approved the spending and they looked at it very carefully to keep it under control, but when you have these additions it takes more money," Mitchell said. "It's a beautiful park and anybody who hasn't had a chance to come to see it, you need to. It will really impress you."

Already the Salt Bowl Banquet was held at the new community center.

"We just didn't build the park for the fun of it, they were requested by the different groups who helped sponsor and push the initiative," Mitchell said. "They listened to what they wanted and incorporated it into the plan and this is where it has gotten. The city worked with the people in the town to make sure it all came together and it was what they wanted it to be."

When Bishop Park gets up and running, it will be self-sustaining and will pay for itself through tournaments, summer leagues, swim meets and those types of activities.

"The tax paid for building it, but the operation and maintenance along with the 1/8 fees and the tournaments should bring it around to be self-sustaining in a year or a year and a half," Mitchell said.