Although inflation made it long overdue, contracts have been awarded to install or replace playgrounds in two rural parks in Bartholomew County.
It was announced last February that all 12 county parks would receive either equipment replacement or facility upgrades in the future, Bartholomew County Parks and Recreation Director Rich Day said. The goal is to replace or update amenities in one to two parks every year and continue until all planned improvements are made, Day said previously.
The original time schedule called for new playgrounds to be installed at both Grammer Park, located near the intersection of County Roads 1000E and 300S, and Petersville Park, off County Road 550E, just north of East 25th Street.
But all the original bids came in over the amounts allocated for the project, Day said.
“It’s been a long process to get these prices down,” according to the parks director.
A process that he said began with having each bidder itemizing products and services after sending representatives to tour the two parks.
“That way, we got the lowest bid on every item,” Day said.
Although there will be design differences between the two playgrounds, both the Petersville and Grammer parks will have a climber featuring an elevated area with recreational items such as slides and rope ladders, according to Day.
Both playgrounds will also have modern spinners that allows kids to be spun around without a dangerous risk of being thrown off by centrifugal force like old-fashioned merry-go-rounds, he said. In addition, new swing sets with Americans with Disabilities Act swings attached will be installed, as well as child safety swings, Day said.
For playground equipment and freight, the lowest bid was submitted by Sinclair Recreation, a Michigan-based company authorized to deal in Game Time, a leading manufacturer of commercial playground equipment.
Its winning bid was $78,264. Three others companies submitted proposals, including a firm that requested over $110,000.
The second bid was for installation of equipment. The winning bid of $31,000 was submitted by Quality Home Repairs of Hope.
The final project involves creating borders around the two playgrounds. Great Lakes Recreation of Holland, MI. submitted the lowest bid of $5,350.
If the borders do not work out, they can serve as shells for a large-fenced-in area known as a Gaga pit, Day said. With rules similar to dodge ball, the game of Gaga uses bouncy or soft foam balls to hit the walls and knock opponents out.
In order to further save money, employees of the county parks system will be preparing each of the sites for the construction of the new equipment, the parks director said.
After all contracts have all been signed, it will take about three months before the new equipment arrives in Bartholomew County, according to Day.
When the Bartholomew County Council hold their late summer budget talks, Day said discussions will be held on what additional attractions can be installed in the future, as well as development in other parks.
Due to the number of baseball and softball teams causing overcrowding at CERA Sports Park and Campground, planning is underway to develop practice ball diamonds in the county parks, he said.
Besides Grammer and Petersville, the other county parks are Anderson Falls, Azalia, Clifford, Dunn, Elizabethtown, Heflen, Mt. Healthy, Owens Bend, Rock Creek and Wayne.
Over the past few years, the county has shown an increasing willingness to invest into their parks network. For example, the parks board agreed to invest $726,170 on a new LED lighting system at Dunn Stadium in March, 2023. The following summer, they paid $80,422 to get a handle on soil erosion at Heflen Park. In the fall, a decision was made to spend more than $600,000 on an illuminated 12-court pickle ball complex at Dunn.
Funds from the federal American Rescue Plan were used when legally permitted for some of these upgrades.