Highland Village’s Parks Department showed off some new equipment that will be used at the community parks.
The first is a “Turf Tank Painter,” which is used to paint soccer fields and the foul lines at the baseball and softball fields.
“We use it for our flag football fields as well,” said Parks and Recreation employee Justin Morgan. “So, it saves us a considerable amount of time, paint and money.”
Another new piece of equipment is a robotic lawn mower, which could be used on sports fields, the dog park and other grassy areas.
“Again, that saves us a lot of time with man hours and frees us up to do a lot of other things,” said Morgan.
The last piece of equipment is the ABI Infield Groomer, which can fertilize fields and has a screen drag attachment that can smooth over or level the dirt on the baseball or softball fields.
“This is a masterpiece,” said Morgan. “It’s fantastic on these fields and can also be used for many other things.”
Council discussed the purchase of the equipment at its July and August meetings in 2024.
The cost of the Field Groomer and the Field Painter were each listed at $50,000 and the cost of the robotic mower was listed at $11,000.
At the council meetings, the Director of Parks and Recreation for Highland Village, Phil Lozano, estimated the automated mower would be able to do the work of two employees in the same amount of time.
“This new equipment we’ve gotten has freed us up to do a lot of extra work,” said Morgan. “It’s almost like having an extra person or two on our crew.
Lozano also said he was present at a demo that proved the mower would be able to handle the topography and terrain of Highland Village’s parks.
“We would just like to thank the citizens of Highland Village as well as our City Council for approving and providing us with this equipment,” said Morgan. “It helps us stay up to speed with technology and new equipment.”
