Council waives bidding for two park playground replacements after staff cites proprietary designs and cooperative purchasing

The Leawood City Council on June 1 approved a resolution waiving the city’s competitive bidding process for playground replacements at Elon Park and Ironwoods Park.

The move, adopted as Item C on the consent agenda, drew questions from councilors about price comparison and procurement practices. “It’s not competitive when you go out to bid because they’re the only ones that have that specific product,” said Marissa Schartzer, parks and recreation assistant director, explaining manufacturers design proprietary playground systems that are effectively single-source for particular product lines. Schartzer said the city is using a cooperative purchasing agreement administered by Greenbush, a Southeastern Kansas Education Service, that allows public entities to “piggyback” on a competitively procured contract.

Council member Ruben asked how the city could be confident it was getting a fair price when staff reviewed only one designer and manufacturer; Schartzer said manufacturers set product standards and design fees are handled within the manufacturer’s process. Chris Claxton, director of parks, recreation and arts, added that prior projects reused components from an original Ironwoods design and that installation and project management advantages can reduce schedule and coordination risk.

Councilors pressed for transparency about price and options but moved to adopt the resolution. The motion to waive bidding was made from the floor and the council approved the resolution; the formal motion and second are recorded in the council minutes. The written staff materials cite project number PRK71052C for the Elon Park and Ironwoods Park playground replacements.

The action authorizes staff to proceed under the charter ordinance exemption cited in the resolution; the project will move into procurement and installation phases managed by the parks department.