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Board reviews mulch-replacement plan and explores ADA‑compatible surfacing
Summary
Staff proposed a mulch maintenance and replacement schedule and is researching longer‑lived, lower‑maintenance surfacing (rubber flooring, rubber mulch, swing/slide mats); board requested life‑cycle and O&M cost comparisons before recommending a capital outlay.
Staff presented a mulch-replacement plan that would 'stir' existing playground mulch every two months in winter and replace mulch in two parts each year so the entire system cycles through replacement over time. The director said she is pricing alternatives, including rubber playground surfacing and rubber mulch, and has square-footage estimates and approximate pricing under review.
Board members raised operations-and-maintenance (O&M) questions: higher upfront costs for rubber surfacing may be offset by lower maintenance and longer life, but O&M savings and recoup period must be documented. Speaker 3 urged staff to include O&M calculations and a clear implementation schedule so the council sees why a higher initial outlay could save money over multiple years.
The board asked staff to prepare a proposal with: a) explicit park-by-park timing for the two-part replacement cycle, b) a life-cycle cost comparison between current mulch and alternative surfacing, and c) a recommendation for which parks would be included in each replacement phase. Staff agreed to return with that detailed proposal prior to any capital-outlay request to council.
