The domino effect of delay

The Mammoth Lakes Recreation Commission was made aware of the issue in October 2010 and took it soon thereafter to a joint workshop with Council, but the need for immediate replacement was either not communicated or not received.

Council belatedly approved the expenditure of $136,000 to remove the non-compliant equipment and replace it with new last month.

The catch in the six month delay is threefold. Not only does it take time to remove the old equipment and order the new equipment, but Town staff must also put the job of installing the new equipment out to bid.

Town Parks and Recreation Superintendent Dennis Rottner explained to the Recreation Commission on Tuesday that the old playground equipment was coming down and that some of it would be sent to charities in Mexico where health and safety regulations and are not as stringent.

“The new equipment has been ordered and will take approximately 4-5 weeks for delivery,” Rottner said.

The request for proposals (RFP) process is also getting underway and Rottner hoped that the new equipment would be installed before July.

“If not before July then by mid-July,” he said.

The Commission felt it was imperative to get the equipment in place before the Fourth of July. It also suggested that a schematic of what the new playground will look like be put up at the park before Town Cleanup Day on June 11 so that the community can have an idea of what’s to come.

All of the remaining parks in town, except for the tennis courts by the community center, are open. Whitmore is also open, Rottner said.

In other Commission news …

The Mammoth Lakes Women’s Club will operate the snack shack at Shady Rest Park again this year. Since the Recreation Commission meeting in April when AYSO came forward wanting to operate the shack and receive the proceeds, the Women’s Club, AYSO, Mammoth Track Club and Commissioners Sean Turner and Teri Stehlik met and set policy for the shack’s operations.

The committee determined that the shack should be operated by one, non-profit group per year and that the group would have to apply annually. The Women’s Club had already entered into an agreement with the Town to operate the shack this year.

Town fees for operating the shack will be waived but will need to be set aside for the sports teams using the fields. The amount of waived fees is $125 per month ($500 for the season), plus five percent of the total net amount that the shack brings in. In past years that has been approximately $3,500, which means an additional $175 would need to be set aside by the Women’s Club in addition to the $500.

“The months AYSO is out there they get the money, the months Little League is out there, they get the money, and in overlapping months they split the money,” explained Commission Chair Bill Sauser. “The extra money from adult softball [which the Women’s Club agreed to operate the shack for this year as well] can go to any youth sports group that the Women’s Club chooses.”

The Commission also reviewed designs for the Trails End Park. In the fall 2010 Measure R funding cycle the Commission awarded the Town $40,000 for the completion of the park’s design. Town staff went back to Design Workshop, Inc., the firm that created the original designs several years ago before the project was put on hold.

Steve Noll of Design Workshop presented the schematics, which still include a water feature (something that had previously been debated). The Commission was undecided on what type of system to invest in for the water feature, a flow through system or a recirculation system, as well as whether or not to use synthetic or real turf for the lawn area.

Noll will bring samples of turf back to the June Commission meeting for a final decision.