Playground swap

CLINTONVILLE – The merry-go-round and climb-around located at W.A. Olen Park will be moved to Bucholtz Park to help make room for all-inclusive park equipment to be installed this year.
That was the decision that the Clintonville Public Works Committee made when it met Dec. 19.
The all-inclusive park equipment will be installed with the help of fundraising from Down WithMylestones, Inc., a nonprofit 501c3 organization founded by Lisa Hill and her family.
Clintonville Public Works Director Justin Mc Auly said the city is looking at installing a “fairly large” climbing apparatus that will take up the area where the merry-go-round and climb-around are currently located at W.A. Olen Park. He added that the city was hoping to keep the playground equipment within the current location of playground equipment so the drain tile and mulch bed would not need to be expanded.
“I feel that the non-profit tried its best to bring in some new pieces that kind of replace them,” Mc Auly said.

He added that a new all-inclusive merry-go-round will be installed. The new climbing apparatus is a lot larger, and is more modern with more things to do on it than the current one.
“They tried to replace those two pieces with newer pieces, hoping that we would either relocate, or possibly surplus and get rid of the older ones,” Mc Auly said.

Options
Five options were presented to the committee by Mc Auly, as to what to do with the current merry-go-round and climb-around.
The first option involved removing both pieces of equipment from W.A. Olen Park and installing them at Bucholtz Park in the Alex Olmsted Memorial Playground. Mc Auly said that playground currently does not have a climbing apparatus or merry-go-round.

The second option involved moving the merry-go-round and the climb-around to the east side of the playground at Olen Park. Mc Auly said this option would reduce the number of trees that would need to be cut down in Olen Park to accommodate moving the equipment.
The third option would be to move the climb-around to Bucholtz Park, and leave the merry-go-round at Olen Park, but move it to the east side of the playground.
The fourth option would to be move the merry-go-round to Bucholtz Park, and leave the climb-around at Olen Park, but move it to the east side of the park.
The fifth option would be for the city to surplus both the merry-go-round and climb-around and sell them.
“I’m looking for a recommendation,” Mc Aulytold the committee.

Discussion
The committee was told that the company creating the plan for the installation of the new all-inclusive playground equipment is basing it off what equipment is currently at the location and where it is located. So, if a piece of equipment is going to get moved, the plan designer needs to know now so the plans can be finalized.
The company wants to finish installing the new equipment by June.
Committee Chairperson Stephanie Bonikowske said she preferred moving the merry-go-round and climb-around to Bucholtz Park.
“Mainly for the fact, with all the baseball and soccer and stuff there, more things for the kids to play with,” Bonikowske said. “I feel like it’s really limited there.”