Town to remove unsafe playground equipment

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON After a recent risk assessment, the town of Roachdale decided it is time to say goodbye to some of the playground equipment at the community park. Equipment to be removed includes two teeter-totters, a metal slide, wooden forts and one bouncer along with three concrete pads which held other bouncers long ago.

ROACHDALE -- During the latest public session for the town of Roachdale on March 14, the board decided it is now time to remove and eventually replace several pieces of playground equipment, some of which have been in use for decades.

A recent risk-management assessment, conducted by the town’s insurance company while being escorted by town marshal Mike Mahoy, showed four items deemed unsafe. This included the double-wide teeter-totters, a metal slide, wooden forts and one bouncer along with three concrete pads that held other bouncers long ago.

“A gentleman from the town’s insurance company came out and did a risk assessment for the town (overall) and had a questionnaire that asked a wide variety of questions,” Clerk-treasurer Debbie Sillery said. “They were very pleased overall with a lot of things Roachdale already has in place, especially internal control things like the safeguarding of customer accounts.

Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON

“One of their concerns involved a few minor things at the park,” she added.

Sillery then gave the floor to Marshal Mahoy who traveled with the insurance representative to the park. Mahoy stated that there are some items that need to be removed as well as other items that require minor adjustment.

Mahoy said the teeter-totters need to be removed due to their age and the fact they were possibly hand-made. He also explained that a roughly six-inch gap exists near the fulcrum where a child’s hand may become caught.

Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON

The single, straight slide adjacent to the teeter-totters also needs to be removed, he said, due to improper construction when it was originally built. It’s also easily observed that the original gray paint used to color the slide flakes off rather easily, leaving paint chips on the skin which are very difficult to remove.

Two aging wooden playground structures, common to most homes, need to be removed, as well. According to Mahoy, the insurance representative said those are intended for residential purposes and are not recommended for public use, as is evident by crumbling supports and missing braces.

Lastly for the items to be removed, Mahoy said the lone bouncer (which used to be one of four) needs to come out, including the concrete pads on which the bouncers were originally installed. The vacant pads will surely require some heavy equipment to be removed and have several rusty nuts and bolts which project upward several inches from the ground.

Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON

“He had a whole list of stuff (we) should do right,” Mahoy said. “For example, the figure-eight slide, by rights, should have a six-foot raise to the whole slide in case somebody does fall off the top, and it calls for a safe barrier -- not like the pea gravel we have down there now, but more like rubber mulch or something like that.”

Board President Zach Bowers, who made the motion to accept the removal recommendations, touched on the eventual replacement of these items.

“Our next step would be figuring out what we can do to replace those items,” Bowers said. “We don’t have a ton of money but I know there are some grants out there as well.”

Clerk-treasurer Sillery noted that a hand-carved wooden bench will soon be donated to the park by a group which will partner with the town to dedicate the bench in memory of Tammy Folck, former president of the Park Advisory Board. Folk was responsible for much of the initial work on the park, Sillery said.

Councilwomen Holly Cook added that acquaintances Joni Knapp and Julie Harveson recently attended a grant-writing workshop and have reached the second portion of the workshop, through which they will begin to write actual grants.

She said they are “going big and asking for four new light poles, playground equipment and just about anything else they can think of” for the park. The pair are working in cooperation with the Roachdale Revitalization Cooperative Alliance.

In other business:

• President Bowers presented an update for the proposed Gavilon Gas Project. A potential base contract for the sale and purchase of natural gas between the town and Gavilon, presented by Utility Gas Management, was given to the board by representative by Ron Reagan. The contract states that the town has the right to do business with Gavilon but is not “obligated” to do so. The contract gives approval to move forward to “start talking numbers with Gavilon.”

The base contract was subsequently approved via 3-0 vote.

• A Storm Water Project update was given by Bowers, saying credits have been issued and some minor water line issues have been taken care of.

• Utility employee Jason Hartman updated the board on storm-water-line smoke testing findings that took place during the spring of 2016. He expressed concerns involving missing or cracked caps for a number of homes in the town. He recommended that letters be sent to residences asking if this issue has been rectified.

• Josh Leons was appointed to fill a vacant position on the Park Advisory Board.

• Property cleanups were discussed. A citation letter with a $100 fine and a request to attend the next public session in April will be sent to the Simpson residence, which was noted in February as seeing little to no improvement and this month was observed by Bowers as virtually unchanged with exception to the fact that the trash in front of the house has been moved to the back of the house.

• The Year End Transfer Resolution (01-2017) was discussed and approved. This essentially explains that, at the end of each year, Clerk-treasurer Sillery and town accountants annually allocate funds into the correct funds.

• The Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Transportation Agreement was approved. Bowers explained that this agreement needs to be approved every three years in order to receive and sell natural gas to residents.

• Marshal Mahoy gave his monthly marshal’s report, citing some upcoming conferences in the process. Mahoy will be attending the Indiana Marshal’s Association conference in April. Since Mahoy is the vice president of the association, he requested and received approval for a hotel room on the first night of the two-day conference due to high levels of involvement. He also said the police department’s radar guns passed a recent inspection and were subsequently certified. Lastly, Mahoy requested and received approval to purchase of higher levels of ammunition so that the department may hold gun training twice each year instead of the usual once per year.

• A parking spot for handicapped drivers in front of town hall was approved.

• Clerk-treasurer Sillery requested the Banner Graphic include an announcement that residents are not allowed to possess free-range chickens and/or rabbits within city limits.

• The next regularly-scheduled public meeting for Roachdale will take place on Tuesday, April 11 at 7 p.m. within town hall, located at 205 N. Indiana St.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: