A new playground structure will be coming to the Glass City Ravine area of Metroparks Toledo.
At the October 23 meeting, the park board authorized the purchase of inclusive play equipment for the park, which is east of Glass City Metropark and adjacent to the Garfield neighborhood.
To be purchased from GameTime, Inc. for $88,383, the equipment includes diversity of play activities and accommodates children of all abilities.
“The project will be funded in full through a number of donations made to the Metroparks Toledo Foundation, including the very first project grant from the new Good Natured affinity group,” explained Jennifer Van Horn, chief of planning and capital projects officer.
Other entities contributing financially to the project are PNC Bank, Lucy Killam Memorial Fund, Metroparks Membership, Metroparks Foundation, Toledo teachers union, and individual donors Richard Chechak, Bette Kruez, Leo and Sharon Knox, and Metroparks board member Kevin Dalton.
Playground and surfacing will be bid at a later date, she said.
Other Business
In other business, the park board:
•Authorized Allen Gallant, director of community development, to seek grant funding of $500,000 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund. If awarded, the grant will be used to support Oak Openings corridor habitat expansion, he explained.
•Agreed to request funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in an amount not to exceed $6 million to support the Glass City Riverwalk.
“There is no matching requirement for this funding,” Mr. Gallant said.
•Rejected bids for the Providence Metropark Miami and Erie Canal dredging.
Doug Parrish, project engineer, said the bids received on October 20 all exceeded the maximum award threshold of the engineer’s estimate by more than 10 percent.
The project calls for dredging 550 feet of the canal, including clearing and grubbing, excavation, hauling, sediment and erosion control, seeding and mulching.
The planning and construction department “will reassess the project scope and budget and rebid the project as soon as practical,” he said.
•Declared as surplus a fleet of vehicles through the Metroparks’ agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management.
Nate Ramsey, chief operations officer, said Metroparks uses “a multi-factor system which considers equipment age, mileage, repair cost, residual value and other factors to schedule and guide equipment purchases and retention.”
He added, “The vehicles will be traded in as part of Metroparks’ efforts to minimize total cost of vehicle ownership.”
There are more than 40 vehicles on the surplus list ranging in age from 2007 to 2020.
•Contracted with Smith Dawson and Andrews LLC for government relations and lobbying services at a cost not to exceed, $6,000 per month.
The park board entered into a similar agreement with Shumaker Advisors LLC at $5,000 per month.
•Received an update on the employee talent pool from Lori Miller, manager of staff performance and development.
•Paid bills for September totaling $5.47 million.
The next park board meeting will be at 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, November 15, and is open to the public. The location has yet to be determined.
