ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
City of Liberal staff has been working on projects to help improve the quality of life throughout the community and recently, one of those projects was finished.
Splash pad projects at McCray Park and Mahuron Park had soft openings last weekend, and Liberal City Manager Rusty Varnado and Special Projects Manager Steve Carroll said they are pleased with the outcome.
“Last summer, we were reviewing the 1-cent sales tax with the Focus on the Future Committee and talking about priorities, and one of the priorities mentioned was a lazy river feature at Adventure Bay Water Park,” Varnado said. “At that point, we were losing about 100,000 gallons of water per day and probably $60,000 to $100,000 per year in costs. The lazy river ultimately didn't seem like a good investment, so we shifted the money over to the Recreation Center to finish that up, because that's a year-round facility that can be used every day. But, we also knew we wanted to find some quality of life features to replace the lazy river idea. We looked around the city, and a lot of attention gets paid to the north side of town, but not as much to the south side of town, and we did an assessment at the end of the summer on McCray Pool and discovered it was only drawing about 12 visitors a month, which is nowhere near the necessary levels to keep it viable. With the infrastructure already in place at McCray Park, and with the park being in a prime spot for a splash pad, we also met with other leaders about improvements that could be done at Mahuron Park, and we ultimately decided that would be a great spot for a second splash pad. We had enough money in the 1-cent sales tax to fund both projects, and we decided to move forward with them. That's where things can get a little tricky, because splash pad companies are somewhat notorious for being fly-by-night, and if splash pads aren't properly installed, it's nothing but years of headaches and too much extra money.”
“Fast-forward to this past February, that's when I started looking into the process and looking at different companies and what logistics would be needed,” Carroll said. “There's also a couple different splash pad types – one is more of a flow-through system where the water just comes out of the tap and goes through the fixtures and gets drained, and the other one is a circulating system that operates more like a pool where there's a tank underground that circulates the water and you have to add chemicals and some other treatments to keep everything clean. We opted for a potable system, which is cleaner and more efficient on our end, and the water's reusable. I looked throughout the U.S. for companies that do splash pads in Kansas specifically, and we ultimately ended up going with a company from Houston, Oasis Water Playgrounds, after seeing their work in some other communities and doing some comparing and contrasting.”
Carroll added there was also a lot of thought put toward where the splash pads would go.
“As far as the locations, McCray Park has a lot of history and is a big part of the south side of Liberal, and we wanted to do something to add to that usable space and with Mahuron Park, that park needed something just a little extra special,” Carroll said. “After vetting the companies, the question then became 'What will everything look like?' and there's a whole design process involved that requires a lot of different people, as well as the installation. The construction company associated with Oasis Water Playgrounds was the company in charge of all the construction, though there was some of the work we were able to do in-house, which we were happy about. Overall, the project went very smoothly – there were a few hiccups along the way, but that's to be expected with any construction project. The construction was finished earlier this month, and last weekend, we were able to do a soft opening and test things out with some actual patrons to make sure everything was fully secure and in place and everything. There are a few things that will need to be replaced, but I would say a good chunk of the remaining work is cleaning up and squaring everything off. There was a lot of work that went into this project, and it involved people from the Water Department, the Streets Department, the Parks Department, the Building Department, and multiple other departments.”
Varnado and Carroll agreed there was also some relief when shovels officially went into the ground.
“Here, we look at our budgets six to 18 months in advance, so until it actually came time to start the project, we'd taken it as far into the planning stages as possible, and Steve had worked on three other projects,” Varnado said. “It's cyclical, and so much of what we do never leaves the drawing board – there have been so many ideas that have been brought up and then quickly went away because they weren't feasible. When a project makes it all the way to construction, it's nice, but for me, once the shovels go into the ground, it's a huge relief because then, we're counting down until it's completed. It takes so much prep work and planning ahead to make projects like this happen, and then there are also things that can happen when the shovels do go into the ground, so it's all a little unnerving. Completion is definitely a nice feeling, the start is just part of the process.”
“And I try to bring in as many people as possible in the beginning, because I want as much input as possible and I want to make sure everyone gets a chance to share their thoughts and make an impact,” Carroll said. “Then, as the project goes on, that number gets pared down to the people who absolutely HAVE to be part of the project and we shift the focus. Once all the planning is done, the contractor comes in, and once that starts, it's a relief, but then there's the anticipation of wanting the project to be completed since there's other work we're wanting to get done. It's more management at that point of a project because we've done all of our due diligence leading up to it all, and all we have to do is follow our script on the way we anticipate everything going. For example, we were scheduled to be done with the splash pads the first week of September, but there was the Labor Day holiday and a few other circumstances that came up, so we actually ended up finishing the week after. But leading up to that point, everything was pretty much right on track, and like I said, there are always circumstances you can't fully plan for, like the weather. I would say the biggest sense of relief comes once the water is turned on and we see everyone running around and splashing around and having fun.”
Though there is still work to be done, Carroll and Varnado said they were pleased with the soft opening.
“More immediately, we're going to look at attendance and usage and see what those numbers are like at the current spots, and there are a couple other spots in town we're looking at for other potential splash pad projects. If the community responds well to the splash pads that are around now, and takes care of them, there's a good chance those projects could happen,” Varnado said. “It's always great when the public responds well to a project, and we're anticipating these splash pads to be really popular. Anticipating the community's wants/needs and then getting them right is always a great feeling, and I think this will be a good one for the community. We're still working on the logistics as far as operating hours and some of that, and if people keep track of our social media pages, we'll give updates when we can when all of that gets settled. Aside from the vandalism, we couldn't be happier with how everything turned out that first week of operation.”
“Yes, that unfortunately did happen, and we have to emphasize the importance of parental supervision. Although these pads are designed for play and for children to run around on them, there is still a need for parents to be present and make sure their children are safe and following the rules,” Carroll added. “Unfortunately, the activator at one of the parks was broken by some young people, so that has to already be replaced. We can't police the splash pads 24/7, so we would like people in the community to police themselves in those areas and make sure everything stays upright. These splash pads are for the community, and this project is something everyone should take pride in and want to maintain for everyone.”
