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Permanent bleacher covers installed at Rodeo Grounds

New bleacher covers keep the seats shaded and dry at the Williams Rodeo Grounds. City officials hope the covers will entice event organizers to keep using the arena. Ryan Williams/WGCN

New bleacher covers keep the seats shaded and dry at the Williams Rodeo Grounds. City officials hope the covers will entice event organizers to keep using the arena. Ryan Williams/WGCN

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - With a new set of permanent bleacher covers in place at the Williams Rodeo Grounds, city officials hope the improved venue will attract more events to town.

Workers finished installing the new steel structure on June 26, according to Public Works Director Kyle Christiansen. The previous bleacher covers were temporary and made of a canvas-like material. The cost to install, remove and repair the temporary covers each year was about $30,000.

"They got damaged in a storm and then the city and mayor and council kind of weighed the cost of removing them and setting them up every year," he said. "And then you multiply that over several years and it adds up enough to have a permanent structure."

Before the city council approved the new bleacher project in the spring, several event organizers were uncertain if they would schedule their events at the Rodeo Grounds with half of the bleachers exposed.

"It provides a more appealing facility," Christiansen said of the new bleacher covers. "When other (groups) have come in...they look at that, and if there's no covers on it they understand that people are going to be in the sun and maybe they don't want to have a competition or event at our facility and so they go somewhere else."

Williams City Council members approved a bid for the new steel bleacher covers at their March 6 meeting. The cost for the foundations, structure and installation in the approved bid came out to about $110,000.

While the cost for the bleacher covers was not included in the budget, city staff was able to find a way to pay for them. The $50,000 in Bed, Board and Booze tax revenue intended for a ball field at Cureton Park was not used for that purpose because of the current level four water restrictions. In addition, the city had a $23,000 insurance payment from the collapse of the previous bleacher covers. Finally, the city used $37,000 from the guaranteed zipline payments to round out the cost of the project.

"With the new covers this gives us a more permanent structure where vendors can come in and see that this is a facility that is worthwhile to use and hopefully it brings in more events," Christiansen said. "That is the goal is to put something up that will draw more events to the community."


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