Parks and Recreation seeks gym floor work, bridge decking and equipment; requests skilled labor positions

Parks and Recreation staff asked the council on Sept. 11 to fund several capital projects and equipment replacements, including resurfacing community-center gym floors, replacing decking on bridges at Central Park, replacing pool shades, buying replacement landscape equipment and vehicles, and constructing a storage building at the West Homewood Athletic Complex. Parks staff said the gym floors have passed their expected life cycle and will be stripped to bare wood and recoated. Staff also described deteriorated bridge decking at Central that requires replacement and said they are consulting suppliers for appropriate composite decking options. The department requested replacement of two stand-on mowers for the walking trail and replacement of aging field and landscape equipment. Parks operations staff asked for four full-time skilled labor positions for landscaping and trail maintenance (two dedicated to the trail, two for mowing/landscape crew) and said the positions had been previously unfunded dating back to 2011. The parks director cited strong participation in youth athletics — with hundreds of participants across programs — and noted that in-house repairs and ADA ramp work have reduced external contracting costs. “We’ve done 62 sidewalk repairs this year … and we've done 15 ADA ramps … this would give us the opportunity to utilize 2 crews,” a parks/public-works official said while discussing in-house capacity. No budget appropriation votes were taken; staff said some requests are in existing budgets or are insured projects already completed (for example, repairs at Spring Park and other items). The council asked for cost breakdowns and scheduling and noted future discussion with the landscape-architect team for specific park renovations such as Overton and Woodland parks.