The grant that made many of the renovations possible for Dowagiac’s Russom Park still has one final trick up its sleeve — helping to remove the water accumulated inside the park’s handful of retention ponds.

In a special meeting held last Friday, the Dowagiac City Council approved a request to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that would extend the length of the grant money given to the city for another six months. The original terms of the grant had the expiration date set for Feb. 1, though the city will need additional time in order to complete work to improve drainage on the pair of retention ponds maintained on their side of property.

“There are a few dollars left in the grant that have not been spent yet,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “With this extension, we will get the opportunity to use those funds for this project.”

Council authorized action on the project back in November, following plans submitted to the city by engineers with Wightman & Associates that would correct the defect with the current ponds, which were designed to drain stored storm water within 24 hours.

Over $17,000 worth of funding remains available from the DNR for the work, which is expected to cost around $25,000 in total, Anderson said. However, the city won’t be in a position to fully pay off contractors until the project’s expected completion project in spring, long after the expiration date of the grant, Anderson said.

“We had first requested this extension back in October,” he said. “We got the paperwork back from the state, but in came in too late for our regularly scheduled meeting this month. That’s why we called for the special meeting last week, so we could take care of it.”

The remaining costs of the project will be taken from earmarked funds in the budget, Anderson said.

Work on the ponds is expected to begin as soon the weather breaks in spring, and will take between two and three weeks to finish. Park goers should see little disruption to activities out there during construction.

“We think it’s an important project to do,” Anderson said. “We want to minimize the amount of standing water for the safety of the children playing out there.”