Lake Butler splash park ‘a mess’
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Lake Butler City Manager Kim Hayes told the city commission during its May 20 meeting that the engineers who originally installed the splash park at Lakeside Park now refuse to touch the facility.
“Matter of fact,” she added, “we can’t even get them to call us back.”
Hayes said that because so many people have repaired, modified, and switched parts, replaced pumps, and rewired the park’s circuitry since its original construction, the engineers said they will not touch the project now.
Mayor Melissa Hendrix said that the current problem with the facility is that water pumps keep burning out.
“It used to be a three-phase,” she said, “and they went and took it out and put in a one-phase. That’s why it keeps burning up, right? It’s not strong enough.”
Hayes said that different people have worked on the splash park through the years.
“Everybody came up with their own ideas, I guess all these years, and it is a mess,” she said. “Just to be honest with you. I can’t find anybody who will touch it. We’re trying to find some motors.”
Vice Mayor Rondell Huggins told his colleagues he wanted to know how much the city had spent on repairs before investing additional funds into the park.
“We’ve spent a lot of money on that,” he said. “I love the kids, and I wish I had that when I was down there when I was a kid. It was just light sand and a lot of black water. But is it really worth it to keep getting somebody to go in there and make a repair, or should we start from the ground up? Maybe we can apply for a grant or something.”
Public Works Director Jason Dodds told commissioners that a Starke-based plumbing company is evaluating the park. He said he would present options to the commission at its next meeting.
