From: Dan Huff
Sent: Tue May 26 10:56:02 2020
To: Terry Shankle
Cc: Gerald Fisher
Subject: RE: Playground equipment
Importance: Normal
Terry - Below is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to you all on May 15,2020. My statement gives you some perspective on what we are dealing with in our parks today.
"Park Restrooms – As you are all aware we closed the public restrooms at the outset of COVID-19. What has not been publicized much is what we were experiencing right before the shut-down. We were experiencing a marked increase in vandalism (much higher than previously) and we have used this time for multiple repairs. For example: All the doors in our four restrooms were destroyed. The cost for the City to replace the unrepairable restroom doors was a $10,000 cost. In comparison, replacing needed playground equipment is a $22,000 to $25,000 cost. These funds originate from the same “pot”. Police and Public Works are currently working on a new plan for our public restrooms moving forward. We cannot sustain the cost to the public for this service. More to come on this item."
All of us would much rather spend the little funding we do have to repair, improve and provide park facilities our community deserves. Frankly, much of our funding has been going toward repairing vandalism, reopening and doing that all over again. Having Council weigh in on this issue may be necessary at some point.
Dan Huff
City Manager
City of Molalla, Oregon
(503)829-6855
______________________________________________________________________________
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-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2020 10:12 AM
To: Terry Shankle <tshankle@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: RE: Play ground equipment
Hi Terry,
Am working from home due to sick family member so my responses my be hit and miss in my remote world but will respond to stuff when I log in.
The short version is the structure is not repairable. We have to buy a new play structure and have one priced out at about $25K-$30K but only have a reserve in next year's budget of $5K. We were trying to buy it this year by not spending other money but that went out the window when the transients and druggies destroyed the doors in Fox and Clark parks. It cost us $10K to replace 4 doors with higher security doors that hopefully cant be destroyed.
If we are able to get enough money together this upcoming year by cost savings then we will move forward with purchasing the equipment. If not, then it will be in the FY21-22 budget. General Fund dollars are tight and we cant use SDC's for replacing existing equipment. The reserve fund we set up also allows for donations from the community if they want to speed the process up. We just don’t have a funding mechanism like other communities to fund replacements. I set up a parks fee in Silverton specifically for equipment replacement and staffing to cover the growing park system. Not sure it would fly in Molalla given the results when we tried to start up a street maintenance program.
Regards,
Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038
Office: 503.829.6855 <callto:503.829.6855> | Direct: 503.759.0218 <callto:503.759.0218>
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-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Shankle <tshankle@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2020 9:36 AM
To: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: Play ground equipment
Gerald,
Sorry to bother you when I know you more pressing things to take care of, but I have been asked when the repairs will be made to the playground at Fox Park? I know we had issues with the manufacturer not making the equipment anymore or something to that extent, but I wanted to know if we have made any progress in finding something else.
Thank you,
Terry Shankle
Sent from my iPhone