Lula City Council members have given the okay to buy a new playground for the city's Wellness Park on Athens Street, but it's not an expense that was planned. A tree fell on the equipment and demolished it during the storms spawned by Tropical Storm Zeta in late October.
City Manager Dennis Bergin presented a couple of options to council members at a meeting this past week, noting that the purchase is a pretty big one for the small town.
"Playgrounds are not the only expense," Bergin said. "Installation is also a big significant dollar amount."
He said he and city staff evaluated offers from a couple of companies and did their homework on both, evaluating equipment used by other entities in surrounding areas. He said they also looked at shipping cost and the warranty for both PlaySouth (the Burke Company) and American Parks. Ultimately, city staff recommended the purchase of the more expensive PlaySouth equipment.
"The truth of the matter is 'What's the bang for our buck?' Really, what we want is a playground that the kids can really utilize, that will last a long time and that doesn't really have a lot of maintenance issues," Bergin said.
Mayor Jim Grier agreed, saying that even though the American Parks cost was lower, their equipment seemed to be purchased most often by churches or other places where the equipment wasn't used every day.
"The more expensive unit [seems to be] being purchased by the places that you'd expect it be used almost every day, like a school or a park or something like that - a government system," Grier said. "I'm wondering if that might be a big factor for us."
"Let's go with the best one," said Councilman Garnett Smith, making a motion to spend $44,916 on the bid from PlaySouth. Councilman Mordecai Wilson seconded the motion and council approved the expense unanimously.
Funding for the unit will come from SPLOST VII.
Bergin said it would be another eight to 12 weeks before the new playground will be installed.
