Years of use by countless little league teams have left the ball fields located behind Franklinton City Hall a bit rundown, but those facilities will be seeing some upgrades this season, according to Mayor Wayne Fleming.

“They’re very nice fields. They just need some attention,” he said.

Fleming said renovations at the several ballparks maintained by the town will be an ongoing process. The first phase of the project will be to replace the fencing. Since the town has taken bids and selected a contractor, that work is set to begin as soon as the rainy weather relents and the fields dry up, he said.

“The fences that we’ll be putting up will give us better protection, so we can keep things better under lock and key,” Fleming said.

The next step will be work on the restroom facilities, where renovations are much needed, Fleming said. That work will begin closer to the summer, but he said it all will be complete before the start of baseball and softball season.

The fencing should be about a $20,000 project, and the cost of the bathroom renovations will be around $9,000 to $11,000, Fleming said. The work is being funded through the town’s one-cent sales tax, where 5 percent of revenue collected is dedicated to recreation, he said.

Renovations to the seating areas at the ballparks will be the town’s focus for next season, Fleming said.

“Next year, we’re going to take a look at spending some money and redoing the stands up there,” he said.