The playground at Francis Park consists of this merry-go-round and swing. The park will get new playground equipment courtesy of a state grant. [Photo by Michael Berry]

As soon as the weather breaks, work will begin on a number of upgrades to Francis Park.

At Monday’s meeting, the City Council voted to hire Hutchison Engineering to design the work and oversee the project. The firm’s fee will be $138,196.

The fee, and the rest of the project costs, will be paid from a $600,000 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant the city received last spring. The city will add $36,000 in matching funds.

Hutchison Engineering is also overseeing a downtown improvement grant the city obtained. The engineering firm hired surveyors for the downtown project, and that crew had begun working at Francis Park when the snowstorm stopped them.

The project will include tearing down the shelter house in the park and building a new one; installing new playground equipment; upgrading sewer and water hookups for campers; and improving the hiking trails in the park’s timber.

City officials have said repairs are needed in the historic Woodland Palace in the park. But those repairs would have to be done under the supervision of state historic-preservation officials, and aren’t included in the OSLAD grant.

Also Monday:

* The council granted the Wethersfield School District a license for an encroachment on right-of-way for a solar-array canopy over a sidewalk.

The canopy will be built over the sidewalk on the Willard Street side of the school.

* An agreement to provide ambulance service to Neponset was renewed. Neponset Mayor Dave Mueller, who was in the audience at the meeting, said “Everything’s running very smooth” with the services provided to his town by Kewanee’s Fire Rescue Squad.

* The council awarded a contract to Laverdiere Construction to install a water main along Elm Street near Northeast Park.

Homes in that area are on a dead-end water line. The lack of circulation of the water in the neighborhood has led to rusty water for the residents; the $269,458 project should solve that problem, city officials say.

“I know several residents in that area are going to benefit from this project,” Mayor Gary Moore said.

* Council members saluted the city’s public works employees for their efforts to remove snow from city streets during this month’s blizzards.