Orange Park to remove Town Hall fountain, install pavers and preserve plaque

The Orange Park Town Council voted 4‑0 on Feb. 17 to remove the failing Town Hall fountain and replace it with a paved plaza, preserving the dedication plaque and flagpole.

Public works and the town manager told council that a contractor concluded the fountain could be repaired but not warrantied and would likely fail again; a full rebuild would far exceed the approved repair allocation. The town manager said staff discussed the change with a family member of the person to whom the fountain is dedicated and that the family was "very appreciative" of the communication and supportive of preserving the plaque.

Public Works Director Kyle Croce said the town plans to do as much prep work in‑house as possible and hire a company to install pavers. "We plan on keeping [the electrical] and we'll run dry lines there for future water," Croce said. The staff memo cited a paver‑installation estimate presented to council as "$76.82 95¢" in the meeting materials; staff characterized the paver option as substantially less costly than the previously estimated full repair.

Council approved a motion to demo and backfill the fountain, install pavers to create a low‑maintenance plaza and keep the commemorative plaque and flagpole in place. The manager said remaining budgeted repair funds would be returned to fund balance if council later decides to use them for benches or another feature; any use beyond the manager’s spending authority will return to council for approval.

The council’s motion instructs staff to proceed with the plaza work and to bring any larger, higher‑cost changes back to the council for approval.