Centertown Mayor Joel Akers says he loves the sound of children playing outdoors. A new playground in Centertown is just the spot.

Centertown city officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday night to dedicate the new playground. Kids were poised and waiting to play.

“We felt the best way to provide something for the community is to give the kids something to do outside,” said Mayor Akers. “No sound is better than to hear a group of children running, laughing and having fun outside.”

The monthly Centertown city meeting was held following the ribbon cutting. Alderman Ramona Mathis made a push to earmark additional money for a walking trail behind the new playground. While examining Centertown’s budget, Mathis made a motion to add $10,000 to capital expenditures to start work on the trail.

“This is something I’d like to have finished in the next year or two,” she said.

Mayor Akers explained the city of Centertown owns an open, 2.5-acre field behind the playground and the walking trail would be located around the perimeter. That amount of land would make one loop roughly a quarter of a mile.

The motion from Mathis gained the support of Alderman Jerry Lorance and Mayor Akers and it passed, 3-0.

When asked about their emphasis on recreation, officials joked they would next evaluate building an indoor pool.

The Centertown budget passed on first read, 3-0. It’s a $126,169 budget with $75,000 of that coming from federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds.