Several items related to enhancements for the Wellness Park were approved by the Washington City Council Tuesday.

The first item was a resolution endorsing an application for a $100,000 grant from Iowa Department of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund. City Clerk Sally Hart explained that the total cost of the project is $200,000, “We’re looking at the soccer lighting that we’ve been working on, and then we’ve heard from council interest in having another restroom in the Wellness Park area near the soccer fields. So we’re going to try to do both as one big improvement project.”

Hart mentioned that some of the city’s buy-in would come from a $25,000 U.S. soccer grant they received for lighting. She and City Administrator Deanna McCusker mentioned American Rescue Plan Act funds and municipal grant dollars from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation as other avenues to fund the remainder of the cost.

The council also approved endorsing an application for an Alliant Energy Environmental Stewardship grant of $2,500 to purchase benches and picnic tables for the park, and approved installing electrical work at a cost of $3,523.17 from Alliant. The parks department is working with the Washington Community School District and the Washington Area Soccer Program to fund moving the school’s current soccer scoreboard to the Wellness Park Field A to better equip upper-level games. The electrical work will provide service for the board and can be used in the future if other pavilions, restrooms, or concession stands are installed in the area. The school district is gifting the scoreboard to the city, and there is an additional estimated cost of $1,000-1,500 for a base installation.