Judge Tyler Gill attended Tuesday’s Russellville City Council meeting to swear in the new city council members, who are all returning and will officially take office in January of 2013.

The city received a Carpenter Foundation grant to have some much needed work done on the old National Guard Armory that serves the city’s recreation building, located on Winter Street.

Mayor Mark Stratton said he wasn’t sure when or how much will be done, but the $30,000 received will help to do some exterior painting and sealing, some interior painting on the gym walls and ceiling, refinish the floor, replace some office flooring in different areas, repair the roof and look at some type of replacement windows.

“Thanks to the generosity of the Carpenter Foundation, this is an opportunity to where something will be able to be done in this community. They have been generous to do this several times over the years,” said Stratton, adding the city has received $150,000 for the sports complex, $320,000 for the fire truck and now this $30,000.

“We want to thank the Carpenter Foundation for this and their continued involvement in the community for what they do. That’s another good thing for the city that we were blessed that came our way,” Stratton said.

Other city news involves an update on the sports complex. Kenny Gregory, the city’s facilities director, gave a report on the complex Tuesday.

“The city has a full time employee at the new park. He does a wonderful job,” said Gregory. “He is a retired Navy officer. Man, he is a worker. You don’t have to go out there and say what have you been doing, you can see it. He works hard and he’s one of those that is going to get the job done. It doesn’t matter what it takes, he’s going to do it.”

His name is Mark Mosch.

Gregory reported they have had two soccer seasons and one football season at the new complex that were very successful. The complex is located on Armory Drive.

“It really worked out well, a lot better than I anticipated. The turf at night is really cool. You wouldn’t think that as hot as it gets during the day. When the sun goes down, the heat just goes away. That really worked out well, better than a lot of people expected,” said Gregory.

Gregory reported the city has placed sidewalks around all the fields, up around the concession and that it is a good walking track so when people are out there and they have kids playing, or waiting to play, they can walk. There is still a 50 foot span to put a walk in, but the city do that work in the spring.

Dirt has been hauled in, but there may be a need for more.

“We are going to have to have someone come in with a laser to level that for us,” said Gregory. “ The weather just got us, we were hoping to get it laid by fall, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Hopefully by next fall we can use that other field,” he said. “Hopefully you can see some improvement going on out there. It’s starting to come together. I think one day we will have a good park.”

Gregory said the council, mayor and others have made this park possible, and the guys that work for him.

“I think the mayor has done an excellent job at allotting money where it needs to be, and I think with that kind of leadership we are going to have a nice facility out there in the near future.”

The city plans on laying sod on the second soccer field in May and hopefully by fall have it for soccer and football. They also have a possibility to put in a bridge that would link both sides of the park.

“I don’t mean anything bad by it, but I think when people see how you manage your money a little better, they are more willing to help out in different areas to make everything successful in the community. We try to do that. It’s not just me, its people like Kenny Gregory and other department heads that work and the council because we just want to make this work for everybody. I believe when we do this people will look and say, you know, hey I think the city is trying to get back on the right track and I think we will have more people jump on board saying, hey we want to be a part of making this what it is,” said Stratton.