ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
After multiple years of citizens requesting it, a new dog park will finally be coming together in Liberal thanks to action by the Liberal City Commission at its most recent meeting Tuesday evening.
“I’m glad we’re able to present this at long last, because residents have expressed their desire for a community dog park in recent years. As you might remember, the 2026 budget allocated $75,000 towards this project from the Community Development portion of the 1-cent Sales Tax. Over the last several months, we developed plans and gathered quotes to bring this request to life as a solid proposal. The location selected for this project will be on South Pershing Avenue, north of McCray Park, with initial plans including paved, off-street parking that can be shared by both play areas,” Liberal City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. “The plan includes a proposed drawing of the dog park, including two separate spaces for small and large dogs, landscaping, fencing, and concrete parking, pet turf and overhead shade quotes from three companies, fence quotes from two companies, seating, water fountain, and agility obstacle quotes from online sources, and an overall estimated project cost. Because of the upkeep that goes along with a grass facility, we would recommend pet turf, which will increase the overall price but provides long-term benefits such as low maintenance, durability, and water conservation. The pet turf installed at the Liberal Animal Shelter has proven to be a practical solution for an outdoor play area, giving dogs an easy to clean space for exercise and socialization. Based on the quotes received, we recommend the bid from All-Inclusive Rec for the Xgrass Pet Turf ($113,378.77) and shade structure ($25,210.62). The turf would be professionally installed by the company. We also recommend the bid from Tex Mex Fence in the amount of $10,106.30. Combined with concrete parking, seating, landscaping, and irrigation, the total estimated project cost will be $194,000. There is additional budget authority within the Community Development portion of the 1-cent Sales Tax we do not anticipate using in 2026. There has been a lot of work done to get to this point, and I’m excited to see things shape up.”
“Operationally speaking – and this may have factored into discussions before I started – but will there be stated hours of operation, and how will cleanup and maintenance work?” Commissioner Nathan McCaffrey asked. “What will also be some of the general rules, and how will those be enforced?”
“The Parks Department guys will handle the cleanup and daily maintenance of the facility,” Assistant City Manager Brad Beer said. “The rules and enforcement, that might be tougher, but I feel like for the most part, people will be pretty good about policing themselves. I’ll also say, with the turf, it has a 10- or 15-year warranty. And with that parking lot, we’re hoping that will get cars off of Pershing Avenue and have not as many children running back and forth to the splash pad.”
More questions came from the commission about the project.
“Did we say only dogs registered with the city would be allowed to be in this park? I can’t remember if that was officially decided,” Vice Mayor Janeth Vazquez said.
“I think that’s actually why we implemented the pet registration process,” Diseker said. “We do need to work through that as it’s being built to decide how we want to implement that logistically speaking.”
“And then as that gets worked through, maybe there could be some signage developed about where complaints or concerns could be directed to, that would be helpful,” McCaffrey said.
After some more discussion, the commission ultimately unanimously approved the project.
The commission also decided to get into the holiday spirit early with discussion of the purchase of a new Christmas tree for the downtown area.
“We have heard many residents express interest in having a larger Christmas tree placed at the Downtown fountain courtyard during the holiday season. This year, we are interested in delivering on this request with a large-scale commercial panel tree which is built to withstand multiple years of outdoor conditions,” Chief Communications Officer Keeley Young said. “The tree we currently have is only nine or 10 feet tall, and we’ve gotten multiple comments about how small it looks when it’s set up. Staff obtained quotes for the following comparable package: 26-foot panel tree with C-7 led bulbs, ornament bulb package, 3-foot gold LED star tree topper, and estimated shipping. The panel tree’s construction includes a powder-coated steel interior frame with ready-to-mount decorated panels for easy assembly. It can be assembled on concrete or natural grass surfaces and is stabilized using ground anchors. The tree has a five-season warranty and specifications have been reviewed by our Parks Director. We recommend the purchase of the Christmas panel tree package from Creative Displays in an amount not to exceed $25,700, with funding to come from the Community Development portion of the 1-cent Sales Tax.”
After some discussion, the commission ultimately unanimously approved the project.
In the meeting’s other new business, the commission also approved a quote from Scout Energy Group to reroute multiple gas lines in an amount not to exceed $60,000 to help move the Cemetery Expansion Project forward, and accepted a bid from B & H Paving of Scott City in an amount not to exceed $740,000 for the 2026 chip seal project. To conclude the meeting, the commission approved the sale of the former South Fire Station at 14 W. Walnut Street to Octavio Holguin Arredondo in the amount of $55,000.
