By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
The Hays City Commission approved a playground equipment proposal for Massey Park during Thursday’s meeting.
Director Parks Jeff Boyle said the current playground equipment at Massey Park was installed in 2002 with a life expectancy of 20 years. Parts are no longer available and the equipment is in need of replacement.
“This unit, if not replaced, would need to be taken down,” Boyle said.
There is coating peeling off the stairs. The plastic is faded and cracked, and one slide had to be completely removed because replacement parts were not available.
“I think that’s a disgrace,” Mayor Sandy Jacobs said. “It looks dangerous to me. The bottom of those slides look difficult. I think we really need to address what’s there.”
Boyle agreed and reminded the commission that playgrounds are inspected monthly.
“What we have right now is passing, but it’s passing barely,” Boyle said.
The proposal from Aspire 2 Play for $119,363.25 includes playground equipment, rubber chip fall zone materials, and plastic playground borders with an ADA ramp. The budget for this project was $120,000 and that budget was listed in the Request for Proposal.
“Give us the best bang for the buck,” Boyle said. “Give us the best playground you can give us for that money. So we did state that right up front, so we didn’t receive $500,000 proposals.”
Over 20 proposals were received and reviewed by a committee of seven employees (two of which are playground inspectors). Each employee was given two votes and the Aspire proposal received a vote from every member of the committee.
“It’s so unique,” Boyle said. “It’s unlike anything in Hays.”
The equipment includes enclosed rope structures at the top, tall spiral slides as well as separate, smaller equipment for very young children.
“It was an overall winner by a landslide,” Boyle said.
The Aspire proposal was the Park Department’s recommendation, but Boyle also provided an option from Miracle Recreation for $114,392.
The Aspire proposal was approved unanimously with a 4-0 vote.
“It’s wonderful to see that reinvestment into the very nature of what is childhood: playing at the park,” Vice Mayor Mason Ruder said.
Looking forward, the Commission will be further discussing the future of the parks in Hays during the Commission Retreat. Changes may be made at some of the smaller, less-utilized parks to reduce maintenance costs; however, Massey Park is one of the four parks identified in the early 2000s Parks Masterplan as a “main” neighborhood park. Boyle said that those parks (Massey, Sunrise, Seven Hills and Aubel-Bickle) should be kept up with nicer equipment.
Other items from the meeting included:
- Update from The Bricks in Downtown Hays
- Approval of a $145,022.22 bid for sanitary sewer cleaning and inspection
- Scheduling of public hearing for November 25 for the deannexation within the DK Ranch Addition
- Update on Community Development Block Grant on Chestnut Suites
The next City Commission meeting will be at 4:00 p.m. on November 13 at City Hall.
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