If you have seen the beautiful retaining walls around the gazebo in Mill Pond Park, you may realize there has been a great transformation, and we owe thanks to so many: organizations, volunteers, donors, and contributors that made these projects a reality.
During the stay-at-home times of COVID, the use of our city parks greatly increased, not only by residents but also by visitors and tourists. Upon approval from the City, KSSB seized the opportunity to make this highly utilized section of the park a more welcoming, more beautiful, and a safer recreational area for the community. This project started as a one-wall project, not knowing at the time that it would evolve into several phases, as well as another wall.
In 2020, KSSB set a goal to complete the unfinished wall around the gazebo in Mill Pond Park. The first tiered wall was completed in November that year.
With a generous donation from the Community Foundation of San Saba County, and under the direction of KSSB Board Chairperson, Kathleen Hawkins, and KSSB members, the project was underway. Overall, the San Saba community came together on this project. Not only did the Community Foundation of San Saba County provide an overwhelmingly generous contribution but the city of San Saba contributed many manpower hours and equipment; businesses such as Farrel Whitley, TAA, Barnes & McCullough, Pecan Valley Hardware, Ingram Ready Mix, and the Greater Texas Stone assisted in providing goods at a discounted rate; and monetary resources were donated by citizens, particularly, Larry and Donna Baker, as well as Ray and Kathleen Hawkins.
In April of 2021, LCRA employees, volunteering to help communities through the "Steps Forward" program, assisted City of San Saba employees lay approximately 13 pallets of sod around the first wall. The following month, LCRA Community Development Partnership Program awarded KSSB a $10,315 grant to build the second tiered retaining wall, which became the third phase of this wall project.
KSSB contracted the services of Jose Rodriguez, Jr., of Modern Masonry Stone Construction to build the second wall and steps.The City of San Saba Parks Department assisted Modern Masonry Stone with this portion of the project.
However, before the second portion began, City Manager,Stan Weik, passed away. Upon a suggestion from Stan's Keep Texas Beautiful friends to donate a bench in his memory, KSSB opted to enhance the bench suggestion and made a project addition which would be funded by memorials. As a result, Jose designed a concrete, horseshoe-formation bench to be incorporated into the project.
In October of 2021, the wall project was nearly finished when the cold temperatures and Citysponsored Christmas decorations and events delayed completion. Consequently, City employees resumed work on the wall project in March of 2022 by installing sprinkler systems and preparing the soil for another LCRA "Steps Forward" project.
Finally, in April of 2022, approximately 15 LCRA employee volunteers assisted City employees in laying more sod, completing the landscaping in the project area. In addition, these volunteers completed other tasks in the park such as painting about 28 picnic tables and spreading mulch in the playground area. Following this, the City Parks Department completed the final stages of the project by installing the beautiful landscaping stone donated by Tony Jacobs, Jr., of Jacob Stone Products, Inc., and building the small wall along the parking lot to prevent erosion.
KSSB asks that you join us in thanking Community Foundation of San Saba County, LCRA and other organizations, businesses and individuals for their active parts in making the Mill Pond project come to fruition. When you see them, please acknowledge their many contributions in making our community a more beautiful place to live.