Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Facilities Playgrounds topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pembroke committee considers $16,000 playground audit as first step toward multi-year replacements
Summary
Long Range Planning proposed hiring an external firm to audit three elementary-school playgrounds at an estimated cost of $16,000; members discussed liability, CPC or capital funding, and the possibility that replacements could become multi-year, high-cost capital projects.
Long Range Planning reported on a proposal to commission a playground audit — examples cited included Reale Associates — to evaluate the condition, useful life and accessibility of the district’s elementary-school playgrounds. A committee member said the Marshfield audit cost about $16,000 for five sites, and Long Range Planning proposed a smaller scope (three playgrounds) for Pembroke.
Members discussed the trade-offs. Supporters said an independent audit provides unbiased data to inform a funding request to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) or a town-meeting capital article. Skeptics warned that producing an audit report could increase the district’s liability (the audit would be a public record) and that replacement estimates might be large; one member observed the playgrounds were last renovated in 1999 and said, "The audit's gonna come back, and be like, well, there needs to be ... a slide there," underscoring the risk that some repairs would be immediate.
The committee noted it does not currently have $16,000 in the school budget and suggested Long Range Planning prepare a CPC funding request for the audit. Members discussed interim options such as obtaining vendor estimates from companies on state contract to prepare rough replacement-cost figures quickly if the committee prefers to seek capital dollars rather than fund an audit first.
Next steps: Long Range Planning will assemble a CPC funding proposal and cost-estimate approach; the committee agreed to pursue the audit request route and to share findings publicly as part of the FY26 capital-planning conversation.
