Sandy and Clif Clay were able to take in the attractions of Epping, N.D. last Sunday and enjoyed a few events featured at Buffalo Trail Days before traveling back to their home in Epping, N.H. Courtesy photo
Under the proposal Community Builders would be responsible for raising the money and building the equipment to safety standards. After the playground was finished, it would be turned over to Parks and Recreation for upkeep, maintenance and insurance.
Members of the board, and Parks and Recreation, expressed concerns over insurance liability for the playground, maintenance costs and the company Community Builders plans to go through, Leathers & Associates.
“The history of Leathers that I’ve been able to find out, over the last nine months I’ve been working on this, is just a red flag for me,” said Darin Krueger, Director of Parks and Recreation. “What they’re planning to do is a great thing for the community, I think it’s a great thing for Parks and Recreation...there’s just a lot of red flags with me.”
“There’s a list of things I think we would have to have before we could even think about donating land,” concluded Krueger. As part of the Leathers program, project designers from the company would come to Williston and work with area children to develop a design for the playground. The playground would then be built by volunteers from the community, the essence of Community Builders. Jake Liudahl and Steve Powell, co-chairmen of Community Builders said they cannot move forward with the project, including the design, until they secure a piece of land for the playground, something board members took exception to.
“I would like to see the design and blueprint, to see if it would work with us,” said vice president Bruce Kaiser. “Until we see what we’re going to receive as a gift, it’s no gift to us.”
Krueger added that until they see a design, he has no idea how much maintenance will be. Because they plan to build the playground mainly from plastic lumber, with a 50-year warranty, Liudahl said maintenance would be minimal.
“Essentially it is as maintenance free as any playground you’ve ever seen,” said Liudahl.
Krueger said after talking with other cities that have installed Leathers’ playgrounds he’s concerned about long-term upkeep and durability.
“Leathers playgrounds are being tore out right now,” said Krueger. “Wood or plastic, to me it doesn’t matter because they’re still being tore out. That concerns me.”
“You’re talking about cutting, sawing, drilling and welding on site,” Krueger said later. “The workmanship of this playground is only as good as your volunteers and your volunteers are going to be people who are not usually cutting, drilling and sawing, that scares me.”
There was also disagreement over insurance liability. Because the project would be constructed by volunteers, the board asked who would be responsible for faulty construction. “I’ve asked that exact same question of Leathers & Associates,” Liudahl said. “And their answer is ‘If we’ve signed off on it with our guy,’ which is part of their program, ‘then it’s our mistake.’ They are responsible for the construction of the playground.”
Despite Liudahl’s assurances, Krueger said they didn’t have proof of that. The board came to the conclusion Leathers would only be liable on design flaws, not construction flaws, and the lumber company would only be responsible for their product.
“I’ll be the bad guy about the whole thing, the real concern is Leathers. The product is homemade, that’s what it is,” said board president Larry Grondahl. “The homemade aspect of the whole thing concerns us. There’s only two in the state, there’s a reason for that.”
The Parks and Recreation had received a letter from their insurance provider, NDIRF, advising against the purchase and installation of Leathers & Associates playground equipment, saying the Park District would inherit the majority of the product liability.
“They’ll insure it, but they’re not high on it. They’re not high on Leathers at all,” said Grondahl of NDIRF. Liudahl responded that building the project with volunteers is very important to Community Builders. “I think it’s important we build something that people will remember the community built, otherwise why are we doing it,” Liudahl said. “That’s all part of the reason we want to do this. We’re pulling the community together.”
“We have the motivation and the desire to do it,” continued Liudahl. “And you can either keep going forward with us and dedicate that piece of land, or say no, we don’t like that, possibly removing this project from ever happening from a private sector.”
After much discussion Darcy Collings made a motion to dedicate the property so Community Builders could move forward with the Leathers’ project, but no one seconded the motion.
The board said they are all for a playground project in Williston and don’t want to see the project canceled, but there were too many unknowns and concerns to dedicate the property at this time. “I definitely don’t want it to go away,” Dave Slette said. “It’s something that needs to get done.”
Liudahl felt that because of the failure to secure land, the project may die. “I think they made a big mistake,” said Liudahl. “This is a several hundred thousand dollar project that may disappear, a gift from the community they rejected.”
“I think we will now look at a couple other location options,” he continued. “But ultimately it will be up to the rest of the Community Builders.”
Comments
Micky wrote on Jul 17, 2008 11:25 AM:
Kyle Cundy wrote on Jul 17, 2008 9:53 AM:
This playground project would be like no other playground in the state and a tremendous benefit to the Williston community! The Community Builders have offered to organize, raise funds, and build the project. This would go beyond being a gift to the Williston community - it would provide an opportunity for the entire community to participate in the design, organization and build! Community-build projects are empowering and instill ownership. The results go far beyond the finished product a custom-designed community-built playground. The process builds community!
Leathers & Associates has been building community-built projects since 1971. We have over 2,000 projects throughout the World. We have worked in all 50 states as well as 7 foreign countries. Our reputation is solid. Given the fact that we have existing projects that were built in the 1970s and 1980s, clearly some are now being replaced. All playgrounds reach their life expectancy at some point and need to be retrofitted or replaced. Many of these communities had such a wonderful experience they are choosing to work with us again. We call these our Generation 2 (G2) projects. An article was just published in the July issue of the Playground Magazine featuring a G2 project we recently completed in Corvallis, OR.
Over the years our materials have evolved. We do now offer communities the choice of building with structural plastic and recycled plastic composite. This combination of materials requires minimal maintenance no more than any other playground on the market. In addition to quality materials, all of our projects meet or exceed CPSC, ASTM and Accessibility guidelines and standards. We have staff that sit on the ASTM committee that helps write the safety guidelines for public playgrounds! All designers, organizers, and construction consultants on our staff are Certified Playground Safety Inspectors. All construction consultants are experts in managing large numbers of volunteers and maintaining a safe build site. We have a process that has been refined over the past 37 years.
The comment The product is homemade giving the impression that it is inferior; coming from board president Larry Grondahl is extremely misconstrued. An appropriate description would be custom-designed. We are a professional design firm that has a tremendous amount of experience working around the world. Each design is unique and reflects the community we are working with. Final drawings go through an extensive safety review in office. Our lead construction consultants average 20 years experience building playgrounds with volunteers! Safety is a priority during construction. A final safety inspection is conducted upon completion to ensure that the project meets all safety and accessibility guidelines. We are not alone in the custom-design community-built field. There other professional community-built design firms that would also take offense to this comment.
Much of the Parks & Recreations concerns are irrelevant as they continually refer to projects built with pressure treated lumber. The community builders never intended to build with wood and have only considered building with all-plastic materials. There are no all-plastic playgrounds built by Leathers that are being tore out. It seems the Parks & Recreation has been misinformed about Leathers or has their own vested interest in going the manufactured route. Either way, it is a shame that they cannot see the benefits a custom-designed community-built playground would bring to the Williston community. It would provide a safe unique play experience for the kids as well as serve as a community gathering space! Community-built builds community. For more information on Leathers & Associates, please visit our website www.leathersassociates.com.
Kyle Cundy, Community Organizer
877-564-6464 ext. 232
607-592-0881 cell
Leathers & Associates "
Jake Liudahl wrote on Jul 17, 2008 9:52 AM:
Disheartened Citizen Questioning Vote Cast in Recent Park Board Election wrote on Jul 16, 2008 11:49 PM:
Correct me if I am misinformed, as it is my understanding that a member of the Park Board is closely associated with a company specializing in the sale of park structures/equipment. I can see how this relationship can be beneficial to the Board. However, in this situation, in which the Community Builders have declined his associated company's bid for park structures/equipment and have chosen to go with an alternative vendor, does such association present a conflict of interest? Was it ethical for the said Board Member to opine on this issue or should he have excused himself? The following is a comparative analogy Hypothetically, what if the President of the School Board was also a textbook vendor? This could be advantageous if the Board chose to purchase his/her textbooks. However, what if the curriculum committee concluded that an alternative textbook series would be a more effective tool in educating their students.
I also have the following questions that I feel should be addressed by members of the Board or by some investigative journalism. (Perhaps, the answers could be included in a follow-up article in the Herald.) Enough with the hearsay from elected officials. Exactly from whom are you receiving the negative reviews regarding Leathers & Associates' products? If the negative reviews are legitimate, should not the public and the Community Builders be informed of the specifics? What do the citizens in Watford City and the other mentioned North Dakota town with a Leathers & Associates' park have to say about their parks? Also, from whom does the Park Board usually purchase their playground structures/equipment or from whom have they purchased structures/equipment in the past? Have any of those structures/equipment ever had to be repaired or replaced? If, so, how often? Moreover, what are the warranties on the structures/equipment that are currently in use?
It would be great if the current structures/equipment in place carried a 50 year warranty. I know first hand that much of it, which was not purchased through Leathers & Associates and which appears to be far less than 50 years old, is in need of repair/replacement. Thus, the quality of the actual materials purchased through Leathers & Associates verses the quality of the materials purchased through the usual vendor(s) appears to me to be a non-issue.
Based on my conclusion of the article, it appears that the basis of the Board's denial was centered on their opinion that Leathers & Associates' products lack quality. Therefore, my final question to each member of the Board "Would you have seconded and subsequently approved the land request if the Community Builders had chosen to do business with your usual equipment vendor(s)?"
It sure would have been beneficial to the voters if yesterday's meeting with the Board regarding the building of this community park would not have been stalled before the last election. Then some of these issues could have been addressed prior to the casting of votes.
Kudos, Mr. Collings, for straying from the pack and attempting to accomplish something positive and exciting for your community and your little ones. In my opinion, it is for this valor that you, a relative newbie, received the largest number of votes for your seat in the recent Park Board election. "