By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Three popular play features in the zero-depth entry area of the Hays Aquatic Park (HAP) are in need of some repair.
Following discussions with the Hays Recreation Commission which operates HAP, Hays Director of Parks Jeff Boyle is recommending refurbishing the concrete green frog slide and snake and alligator floatables. All three items have been at the HAP since it opened in 2000, 17 years ago.
The frog has had some minor repairs made to the tongue (the slide), which is removed and stored in the off-season, and it was repainted a few years ago. “There’s a difference in the yellow paint colors in the mouth,” Boyle pointed out to Hays city commissioners last week. “Quite honestly, it’s not purty,” he laughed.
Boyle was concerned about a chip in the concrete on the frog’s back right leg. The two companies specializing in commercial pool structures contacted by Boyle told him “that’s actually minimal compared to what we’re used to dealing with.”
Although the alligator is cleaned and waxed every year, it is also showing its age, with a large worn spot on one arm. The snake has a hole in its head. The floatables have had special urethane water-proof paint applied to their undersides the past few years by city employees to protect the play animals.
Both floatables are foam-filled with quarter-inch-thick flexible urethane paint on them. “They’re real squishy. You can sort of pinch them which has caused cracks in the paint,” Boyle explained.
Both companies have made bids on the restoration work. WaterPark Excitement, the original manufacturer of the Hays pool structures, is the low bidder for repairing the heavy frog on-site at HAP and shipping the lighter-weight alligator and snake to Seguin, Texas for refurbishment at their facility. The low bid by WaterPark is $24,170. City staff is recommending it be paid from the Pool Reserve Fund which has a current balance of $345,728.24.
Boyle showed a slide example of “good as new” restoration work by WaterPark. The example happened to be a foam tiger feature, which piqued the interest of commissioners.
“We need one of those,” Commissioner Sandy Jacobs said about the tiger. Fort Hays State University’s mascot is a tiger.
Buying a new play feature is expensive. Boyle said a comparable new snake or alligator is $8,900.
“Can we trade the snake for a tiger?” asked Commissioner Lance Jones. “They’d give us $300 each,” Boyle replied.
Commissioners directed Boyle to check into pricing for the tiger, which would sit flush to the pool bottom.
“The thing that worries me is the anchoring,” Boyle cautioned. “One of the things I don’t want to do is drill new holes into that pool base.”
Boyle also said he and HRC are looking at adding more play features to the pool “from the smallest things to bigger, costly things…just to kind of throw out a whole bunch of options the commission can pick through, saying this is affordable and this is not.”
Commissioners will consider the WaterPark refurbishing bid and new options at their meeting Thu., March 9. Click here to see the complete agenda.