Grand Island town board pauses $783,000 splash pad order after members say they weren’t informed

At a town board workshop, the Town Board of Grand Island voted to pause a vendor order for a splash pad and directed engineering and staff to contact the vendor and report back before the board’s next meeting. The motion, moved by Councilman (speaker 1) and seconded by Councilmember (speaker 4), passed by voice vote.

Board members said they learned only recently that a custom splash pad had been ordered and that they had not had a substantive opportunity to review scope, cost or donor commitments. Councilman (speaker 1) urged the board to halt spending: “I will never... I’m not voting to spend $800,000,” he said, arguing the board should seek grants or a donor rather than approve a large outlay without full board approval.

Staff and an advisor explained the purchase is part of a larger project that received county ARPA grant funding and town bond anticipation. A staff advisor (speaker 7) said the town entered a contract tied to an Erie County ARPA grant approved 08/10/2023 and that the grant award was about $1.1 million; the town later increased bond financing to about $1.3 million to cover anticipated additional expenditures. He cautioned that pausing the order could carry legal or contract implications and recommended contacting the vendor and county for details.

Board members discussed the vendor price and project line items. Participants reported a vendor purchase price for the splash pad itself of roughly $708,000, an estimated $75,000 for water/wastewater and electric hookups, and additional concrete/site work estimates of roughly $170,000; speakers summarized those items to a working total near $783,000 for a functioning splash pad with utilities and immediate site work. The group identified approximately $400,000 described in the meeting as the remaining grant balance and roughly $170,000 in a parks/parts trust fund; after accounting for bond proceeds and grant balances board members said the remaining local gap to make the pad operational would be on the order of $85,000 (figures discussed varied in the meeting).

The board also asked operational questions the vendor and parks staff must answer before any decision: whether the system is recirculating (speakers said it is not), annual water and insurance costs, whether lifeguards or additional summer hires would be required, and how wastewater or stormwater routing would be handled. Several members asked whether the splash pad could be scaled back to reduce cost, whether concrete elements could be bid separately, and whether a private donor cited in prior discussions actually exists.

Following discussion the board passed the motion to pause the order, to have engineering and staff contact the vendor to determine how far along the vendor is, whether the installation can be paused or scaled, and to report back by e-mail and at the next meeting. The board scheduled a follow-up meeting with vendor/engineer updates and left open the option of executive-session legal review if needed.

The town’s next procedural steps are to obtain vendor status and contract documentation, to get firm operational-cost estimates from the vendor and parks staff, and to determine whether Erie County will permit repurposing or returning any remaining grant funds if the town pauses the project.