(Seguin) — The city of Seguin is looking at ways to enhance the playground in Max Starcke Park. The issue came before the Seguin City Council during its meeting on Tuesday night. The council reached a consensus to use $300,000 that had been set aside to purchase park land, and instead use that money to purchase additional playground equipment.
Seguin City Manager Steve Parker made the suggestion. Parker says the city heard from a number of citizens recently, who were upset that the city removed some old playground equipment from Starcke Park East without first consulting the public. Parker says it was a safety issue, so the old equipment needed to be removed.
“Staff had been monitoring this, and this playground equipment was very unstable. You could sit on it, and it would rock back and forth. There were a lot of chances for splinters, and some splitting of the plastic slides and so forth. It was just really an unsafe structure. People asked why couldn’t you just repair the wood?
But by the point it got to the wood — being so unsafe at the bottom and that shaking — you basically had to replace all the wood to begin with. So, we made the safety call at that point to go ahead and remove the play structure. We would like to have more time to do that, but at that point, it was just so unsafe,” said Parker.
The announcement that the playground equipment had been removed created a bit of a firestorm on social media, with many posts critical of the city’s decision. The city at the time pointed out that there was still newer and safer playground equipment still in the park, that was put in 2015. Parker says they stand behind the decision to remove the old wooden playground structure, but he says he also understands that the public wants the city to do more to enhance that area, now that the old equipment has been removed. He says that’s why he is recommending that the city use that $300,000 to enhance the remaining playground area in Starcke Park East. Parker says he believes this is a better use for that money, and it immediately begins to address some of the concerns raised by the public last week.
“In last year’s budget, there was a line item approved for park land dedication up on the north side of the Interstate 10, that would be where we think our next regional park would go. So, we were allotting $300,000 in the annual budget to do that. We actually think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for public-private partnerships with land developers, and actually, if we’re able to work with them…we may actually get that land free with some of the new financial tools that we put into the system related to public improvement districts and so forth. So, we don’t have a real need to use that money this year,” said Parker. “Our recommendation to the city council, if you’re so willing, is to start that out with that $300,000 being allocated to a new parks project to supplement the equipment that is there as of today.”
Despite the social media uproar, there was only one person who addressed the council about the issue. Local resident Gary Vaughan says he takes no issue with the city removing the playground equipment. He says he understands that it wasn’t safe, but he says he does question how this decision was made without any real input from the public, including a lack of input for the city council appointed Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Vaughan says these city committees and boards exist for a reason and the city needs to make sure that they are utilized for decisions like this.
“This is a tremendous lineup of documentation of it needed to be torn down. I’m one thousand percent behind that. I just think it’s interesting that there’s no documentation on any committee meeting. I’m talking at the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. And what I would also mention as part of this is, this may not be the only committee that’s that way, and I’ll have more dialogue about that at another time. I don’t want to confuse issues. But if we have these committees, they need to have some teeth in them and they need to be given the opportunity to address, or at least review major parts of what we do, and not just be done in the silo somewhere,” said Vaughan.
Parker’s recommendation was for the $300,000 to be used for the enhancement of that playground, but he also asked that Parks Director Jack Jones work with the parks board and playground experts to see what could be done in that area. Parker also recommended that the council consider creating a dedicated fund that will help replace and repair aging playground equipment within the city.
“I think the biggest thing that’s been missing, is there’s not a real true park replacement fund. So we usually wait until these things are almost dilapidated before we really start putting money (into them). Now that we’re starting to, you know, have some significant growth, maybe put around $40,000 or $50,000 a year into an equipment replacement fund,” said Parker.
The council did not vote on the item, but reached a consensus that will allow the parks department to move forward with planning for the new playground equipment. Mayor Donna Dodgen says it’s important that whatever is done — it needs to be play equipment that’s inclusive of children with special needs. She says it will be a little more expensive, but they need to provide play opportunities for all children.
The council was clearly reacting to the output of citizens last week. Dodgen says the council knew the equipment was going to be removed, they just didn’t recognize that there was going to be a disconnect with the public, which clearly felt like it was left out of the loop.
“We on Council did receive an e-mail prior to all of this, and I didn’t catch it either,” said Mayor Dodgen. “No, I saw it. As did all of us. It didn’t exactly (click). It didn’t click and so I take responsibility for myself, as should each of us. It didn’t click…it was a safety issue with me and that’s immediately why I thought (we need to) take care of it and deal with it. So, it didn’t click.”
Even though the old wooden playground was removed, there’s still the more up to date playscape located right next to where the old wooden structure used to be. Meanwhile, staff says it will work on enhancements to that area and bring that back for further discussion in the future.