A long anticipated project is finally underway in Jefferson.

Parks and Recreation Department Director Denny Hammen says a groundbreaking ceremony took place Thursday morning for the pickleball courts, and it’s the signal that construction has begun. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the contractor, Caliber Concrete, will have crews doing dirt work and installing a drain system before laying rock and then pouring the post-tension concrete. Hammen notes once the concrete is poured, it needs 30 days to cure. “From what I understand, then they start pulling that concrete tighter and tighter together in order to make it that much more dense than what normal concrete is. Hopefully improving the life of it for several years.”

Hammen shares his thoughts as he reflects on the timeline of this project.

“I’ve been amazed at how quickly the process came along. This was brought up about a year ago because yeah at that time I was kind of thinking about when I wanted to retire, and I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’ll see the end of this project because this might take a couple of years to get this through.’ Boy was I wrong on that because there was a group of people that came together and they really worked hard in order to get the word out about this project and the funding that we needed for it.”  

Hammen anticipates the completion time frame is around the Thanksgiving holiday. Funding for the $217,301 project came from private donations and pledges, along with a small amount of city funding through parks and rec and a grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation.