County approves contract with VWAA for Culkin Fields

Published 6:37 pm Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Baseball teams with the Vicksburg Warren Athletic Association and other groups will soon have five new practice fields following the approval of an agreement by Warren County supervisors to lease the Culkin baseball fields to the association.

The agreement, which was approved Monday, is pending approval by the county’s Parks and Recreation Board and the Vicksburg Warren Athletic Association.

“It’s one more step forward,” said VWAA President Matt Mallard. Mallard approached the supervisors at a work session about the VWAA taking over the facility, located off Culkin Road on Mount Alban Road.

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Under the agreement, the association will ensure the fields will be open for use by other organizations like the Fuzzy Johnson Baseball League and serve as administrators of the facility to schedule times for teams and organizations to use them.

VWAA will be responsible for cutting the grass on all fields inside the fences, replacing broken fences and netting, repairing a previous waterline break, repairing electrical switch boxes and wiring and installing gates to the facility’s entrances.

The county would to continue cutting the grass along the rights of way and areas outside the field fences, continue to pay for utilities, and make any needed repairs to water, sewage and electrical utilities.

Mallard said the association has cut the grass at the park and sprayed for weeds.

“The bigger cleanup still hasn’t happened, but I want to see what it looked like getting the grass cut,” he said. Mallard said the fields at the park vary in size.

“Two fields are larger fields and three are smaller,” he said. “Any of the fields can be used by any age group, but one field is going to be for 8 years and younger, because it’s a short fence.”

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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