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Parks department seeks $415,000 from Accelerate Memphis to finish Chandler Park playground; council asks for budget breakdown
Summary
Memphis Parks asked the council to allocate $415,000 from Accelerate Memphis to complete Chandler Park playground installation and site work; councilmembers asked for a detailed cost breakdown and deferred a same‑night vote until staff supplies a line‑item explanation.
At a City Council committee meeting, Memphis Parks asked the council to allocate $415,000 from the Accelerate Memphis project to complete construction and project management for Chandler Park playground in District 4. Justice Bolton, representing the parks department, and Deputy Director Marsha Allen told the committee that the project’s total cost is about $1.3 million and that the parks department has already purchased equipment including playground structures and a pavilion. The $415,000 request covers the remaining installation and construction management — including poured‑in‑place rubber surfacing, pavilion installation, site grading, tree planting and related work — and is drawn from Accelerate Memphis budgeted funds.
Council members expressed concern that the line item labeled “construction management, architecture and engineering” and showing $415,000 looked large relative to the remaining installation work. Councilwoman White pressed staff to confirm whether the requested allocation is part of the $1.3 million total or an additional amount; Deputy Director Allen and Justice Bolton said the $415,000 would be allocated from the Accelerate pool and is part of the overall $1.3 million project total. Several council members, including Councilwoman Green, said they were not comfortable approving “same‑night” minutes without receiving a detailed budget breakdown showing how much is for construction, installation and project management and which Accelerate accounts will be reallocated.
Parks staff said they would provide a cost breakdown and a broader Accelerate Memphis status report, including how much Accelerate funds have been spent, which projects remain and bond payments made to date. The committee held the request without recommendation and asked staff to return with a written cost breakdown and an updated Accelerate Memphis spending summary before the item comes back to the council for a final vote.
No vote to appropriate funds was taken at the meeting; the committee asked staff to provide a line‑item budget and a summary of Accelerate spending before taking action.
