AUGUSTA (AP) – Make sure you’re wearing a hard hat before you walk into the Maine Senate.

Protective gear is required in that legislative chamber and elsewhere in the Capitol complex, where summertime projects that will cost taxpayers at least $300,000 are under way.

Inside the State House, scaffolds are in place and furniture is covered in the Senate where workers will be repairing chipped plaster and painting the ceiling. It’s been nearly a decade since the chamber was upgraded and the work will cost $100,000, said David Boulter, executive director of Legislative Council.

The Senate chamber work needs to be done “so it maintains its appropriate condition,” Boulter told the Legislative Council, which includes House and Senate leaders from both parties, during a meeting Wednesday.

Outside, a park area between the State Museum and State House is getting a major overhaul, including walkways to make it more accessible to disabled people, landscaping, stone benches and a structure featuring six pieces of Down East granite of varying heights dampened with running water.

The bulk of the outdoor project’s expenses – $180,000 to $190,000 – will be for the walkways and landscaping, said Boulter.

The granite structure, described by landscape architects as a “water feature,” will cost $20,000 to $25,000, he said.

Boulter said it will be “quite understated” and “in keeping with the building here,” which contains a lot of granite.

“We wanted to make it aesthetically pleasing, but we were also told by the architects that if you’re going to have a lot of kids, you need a feature that draws them away from the traffic and to the center of the area,” Boulter told the council.

The so-called green area is located on an open spot that was created when a brick Education Department building was demolished several years ago.

Surrounded by the State House, the Cross State office building, the museum-archive building and parking lots, the grass-covered area was intended by a previous council to serve as a gathering and picnic area for Capitol visitors, particularly schoolchildren, who come by the busloads.

“A quarter million people come through every year. Hopefully they will have a place where they can go that will be pleasant and safe,” said Boulter. All of the work is to be done by Maine contractors, he said.

Not everyone is thrilled about the outdoor project.

“From my point of view, it’s a waste of time,” said Democratic Sen. John Martin of Eagle Lake, who as the assistant Senate majority leader serves on the council. “It’s going to be nice, I suppose,” said Martin. “But I would have put the money into something else, including not spending it.”

Contracts for the work were authorized by the council which oversaw the Legislature during the 2005-06 session, he said.

Martin believes the project represents a lack of continuity in oversight of State House improvements that results from legislative term limits.

The State House and Cross State Office Building were extensively renovated in 2000 and 2001 at a cost of more than $50 million.