DEMOPOLIS &8212; Though summer baseball and softball have put several projects in progress at the Demopolis SportsPlex on hold, the park is working to upgrade its facilities as it approaches the end of its fiscal year.

The park has several projects it has been working on prior to summer play on fields at the park, which Demopolis Director of Parks and Recreation Mark Pettus said have been put on the backburner as parks and recreation workers scramble to keep the facilities in shape during the hectic season. He said the projects will likely soon resume as the parks see a lull in summer activity.

Pettus said the beginning of summer ball at the park brought a shift of priorities, as park workers had to focus on upkeep of the 12 fields and the concession stands to facilitate demand for usage. Since the park uses its workers on most of the projects to reduce costs this shift has put projects both big and small on hold.

Pettus said the complex is also in the process of building two additional fields, on land next to the tee box of the 16th hole of the

SportsPlex golf course, for area tee-ball teams. He said the park currently has completed the dirt work for the project and purchased fencing and four light poles from a surplus action to install once the staff has time to refocus its aims.

Pettus said along with the current upgrades, there are several other projects the Demopolis Parks and Recreation Department has been looking at doing in the future. He said they are mostly just ideas at this point, but they are something the city could look at planning in the not so distant future.

Pettus said the project he feels is of the foremost importance for the parks and recreation in development of the riverfront. He said the facilities at the boat launch were not designed for the amount of use they currently see and need upgrades to facilitate the size vessels that currently utilize the launch.