By Jack Underwood, Staff Writer
The Marthasville Board of Aldermen voted not to make any changes to the playground at City Park after receiving a recommendation from their insurance company to make possible safety improvements.
Mayor David Lange had questioned the city’s insurance provider about what consequences there would be, if any, if they elected not to make the changes.
“I asked your guys’ question: what happens if we don’t (follow the insurance recommendation),” said Lange. “I said will we get kicked out of the insurance company, and he said no. They’ve got other cities that they’ve made recommendations to do things in their municipality and he said they haven’t done them, and no, we don’t kick them out of the insurance company, he says it’s just a recommendation.”
This meant that the provider’s recommendation would not carry any penalties, the city would not be dropped from their insurance, and they would not see any increases in premiums related to the playground.
While their playground had technically fallen behind new industry standards for safety, it was grandfathered in and the insurance company would not require them to make any changes.
At their Sept. 18 meeting, the board had received those recommendations from their insurance provider to make changes to the playground to bring it in line with new industry guidelines for safety.
Those recommendations included additional railings on one of the entry stairwells to the playground structure on the north side of the playground and shoring up the base of pea gravel on the playground on the north side near the “fall zone.”
The stairwell already has horizontal railings but to bring the playground into compliance with newer industry guidelines their insurance provider wanted the city to work with the manufacturer, Miracle Recreation, to install vertical bars on the railing as well.
Lange said city workers had already placed additional gravel in the playground and regraded it to be four to six inches deep around the playground, as it had shifted and was shallow in some places.
There was also a quote provided by Miracle to make the changes to the railings for roughly $6,500.
Board members balked at the cost of what they perceived as small and unnecessary changes to the playground.
“That playground equipment has been there for over 10 years, and there hasn’t been a kid to fall on it or got hurt on it yet,” said Lange.
Instead of making a decision at the Sept. 18 meeting, the board instead directed Lange to return to their insurance provider with a list of questions.
The information Lange received meant the provider’s recommendation would not carry any penalties, the city would not be dropped from their insurance, and they would not see any increases in premiums related to the playground.
While their playground had technically fallen behind new industry standards for safety, it was grandfathered in and the insurance company would not require them to make any changes.
Lange also felt that in the years since the playground had been installed there had not been any major injuries that he could recall.
“The fact that the insurance company says we don’t have to do it, they’re not going to kick us off, they’re not going to raise our rates, pretty much tells you that whatever we got is okay,” said Aldermen Leo Meyer.
In the end, the board voted unanimously not to move forward with any changes to the playground, and instead direct the city funds to what they saw as a more useful project: their contract for new security cameras at City Park.
