The long-discussed splash pad for Northside Park in Hope looks like it will become a reality soon, as demonstrated in Tuesday’s Hope City Board of Directors meeting, which can be seen on the city’s Facebook page. The meeting addressed many topics, from the details of insuring payments of bonds to whether to fix an airport runway to street repair to parking policy.
The board, gathered in Hope’s City Hall boardroom Tuesday evening, heard a presentation from Jared Parrish of Waterplay who had travelled from Dallas of renderings of a plan, which were projected on a screen. In a March 18th meeting, Parish will return to present 3-D renderings.
“The surfacing is what we call Tough Coat. It comes in a variety of colors, but for this particular conceptual rendering, we went with two shades of blue, which I find to be pretty aesthetically pleasing. I hope you do as well. We do have options that include park benches and shades as well as picnic tables. So those amenities are available, as well. The placement of them can be reconfigured based on what the city is looking for,” Parrish said.
The pad can include features that allow kids to control the direction of the water spray. He also described the centerpiece of the proposed splash pad, called an activity tower.
“It's not just a slide. It's a combination of features combined together to make for a very interactive water play experience,” Parrish said. “You've got the twin slide there going out onto the safety mat. There are two very tall, freestanding features attached to this. One is called an encore, and the other is called a sky soaker. The fun thing about the sky soaker that I really like is it's actually a translucent bucket, so the kids can stand beneath it and just kind of watch as this water is loading into the bucket in anticipation of the splash.”
The features of the pad go beyond mere sprinkling of water in arcing patterns, Parrish said. “we're dealing with a total of 19 total features, and that does include activators and drains.” In terms of space, he said the play area would be about 2,000 square feet. The pad would come with a 25-year warranty for the stainless steel.
In finishing his slide presentation, Parrish commented on a picture of his colleagues at Waterplay. “Who you're seeing up here are the faces of the water play team,” he said. “So we've got up here customer service. We've got professional designers, technical support representatives and after sales support. This will be your dedicated team. There is no outsourcing at Water Play. We are there from this time that you start trying to pick out features and decide [where] this splash pad [is] even going to go, to the time that we're actually installing the features themselves, and all the way up until the grand opening.”
In answer to a question about different varieties of flooring from City Manager J.R. Wilson, Parrish said that while the slide he showed was of the Tough Coat flooring, the Life Flooring at a more premium cost can last much longer. To Wilson’s request for a description of Waterplay, the company, Parrish said “We've been selling splash pads for the last 30 years throughout Canada and the United States. We also have offices all over the world, Australia, Asia, South America, and we have representatives like myself throughout the United States, just in various spots. I am in charge of Texas and Arkansas.”
About water usage, Parrish said the pad shown on screen uses potable water, meaning not chlorine treated as would be the case with a swimming pool. In answer to Director Trevor Coffee’s inquiry, he also provided information about the quantity of water used, saying the pad uses about 100 gallons per minute. “We average the use of at about 70 percent,” Parrish said. “Because the fact is, that pad isn't going to be running 24/7, and even during the day, when it is in use, there's going to be times when it's not in use. So you could estimate it at about 70 gallons per minute, five to six hours a day. You're talking about 33 to 35,000 gallons of water per day.”
Director Steve Montgomery asked about warranties for the pumps that are a part of the pad. Parrish said the pumps and the switches are warranted for two years.
Director Linda Clark asked about the age range for use of the pad. Parrish said it runs from about three to twelve. Coffee asked about the time it takes to install them. Six to eight weeks, Parrish said, with another eight weeks between the signing of a contract and the beginning of installation.
Clark asked about whether someone would need to be employed to preserve the splash pad for safety reasons. Parrish said that in Texas the lack of standing water meant no lifeguard was required. Asked about splash pads in Arkansas, Parrish said about two have been installed, one in Little Rock and the other in Rogers. Parrish said he would also help make arrangements if members of the board wished to talk with the people associated with those splash pads as well as those in northeast Texas who had had them installed.
After the presentation, Wilson said preliminary estimates for the cost of the pad with Water Play would be up to $300,000. Parks, Recreation and Tourism Superintendent Summer Chambers said the city had applied for state grants for about $250,000 to help pay for a splash pad in the past two years. These were unsuccessful attempts. Coffee said that if the goal was to have a splash pad constructed at North Side park by the end of the year, Water Play’s timeline would make that difficult to do. Wilson responded that it could be built by that time but might not be usable yet.
Waterplay is the first company to reach out to Hope, but Wilson said he and Chambers are speaking to other companies as well.
In other business, the board heard from Jason Holsclaw of Stephens Incorporated who said through an internet video link that he advised the city to use municipal bond insurance which would make payments on the bonds the city will be issuing so as to access funds sooner than they would ordinarily come in from the sales tax approved by Hope citizens in this past November’s election. The vote approved a 1 cent sales tax to pay for a new fire department headquarters, a recreation and aquatic center and parks improvements (including the splash pad).
Wilson said the choice for the city was between setting aside enough of a reserve to make loan payments in case of financial problems or acquiring bond insurance. He said the taking out of an insurance policy and the resulting greater likelihood of Hope being able to make its payments would likely make the selling of Hope’s bonds by investors an easier prospect. It could also lower interest rates the city would pay on the bonds.
“That's correct. And again, it may vary depending on the market conditions, but that's correct,” Holsclaw said. He also said the result of buying insurance would mean more funds available of the estimated $30 million or so to be raised from the tax for use in Hope’s plans.
“Then we would have about $3,325,000 to build our fire department and purchase the land for it. And you estimate that we'd have about $27,270,000 to do all the required park improvements that we listed in our election?” Wilson asked.
“That's correct. And also, to keep in mind all the other line items there, if the [buildings] come in less than what that amount is, those monies would just go into your construction fund and be available to use for your projects,” Holsclaw said.
Wilson said that the language on the November ballot item for the fire department tax allowed for the use of any funds left over after paying for the fire department headquarters to be used on fire-fighting equipment.
Holsclaw said that as Stephens prepares to issue Hope’s bonds for sale in the next month, if conditions change and make holding a reserve amount that he estimated would be about $1.1 million would be Hope’s better option, he would communicate this to Wilson. “But right now, this is the structure that we were proposed moving forward with,” he said.
At Wilson’s request, Holsclaw also explained the purpose of a Request for Proposals announcement made, intended to draw offers from banks to provide trustee services in handling the sales tax proceeds. “This is a little bit more complicated, as you know, because there's multiple taxes involved. So the banks that we have discussed potentially sending this to are ones that specialize in this particular type of transaction, as well as being able to manage sales and use tax funds as they come in,” Holsclaw said before asking for any questions the directors might have.
Next, the board considered the recommendation by the Street Maintenance Committee of a list of locations to be fixed. The list includes 13 places that would receive asphalt and milling as well as crack filling and pipe work at a cost of $492,661.
Director Montgomery made the motion to approve the 2025 plan. The board approved it by voice vote.
Next, Wilson said he was asked to present to the board the proposal by Hope Public Schools to either purchase or acquire in trade about two acres adjacent to Bill Clinton Drive from the city to add to 13 acres the system intends to buy from private owners. Wilson said the district is likely to apply to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for a rezoning of that plot of land (it applied unsuccessfully for a special use permit last month) and to use it for a multisports complex.
No action was taken by the directors. Wilson said he anticipates Hope School Superintendent Jonathan Crossley will appear in a future meeting to address the subject further.
Next, the matter of ongoing upgrades to the Hope Municipal Airport was addressed as Wilson addressed the board, asking for clarity on whether to accept an Arkansas Aeronautics grant of $638,765 to repair a crosswind runway, requiring a $138,414 match from Hope. “Just to be honest with you, we just the funds, the only funds we operate with. The airport does not make enough funds to keep doing this long term. I mean, we can, and we can just make it work and and eventually we may have to pull back our employee or do some other things.
Crosswind runways typically run perpendicularly in relation to the prevailing winds at an airport site. There are usually fewer of these at airports and they are used less frequently than runways that allow pilots to bring planes to a landing or ascend in the same direction as winds usually travel. They offer pilots the option of landing or taking off in a different direction if the winds change in an atypical direction.
Airport Manager Darrell Allen provided the directors with a rundown of the airport’s balance sheet in a year. “We bring in, in the $65,000 range. We typically spend, just to keep the lights on, no projects, around $100 to $125,000.” He said that though he had heard from pilots saying the crosswinds runway was helpful for them, winning a no-match FAA grant to work on the crosswind runway would be more likely if it were being used more, but Hope’s is only used in up to 20 percent of landings and takeoffs.
Discussion followed of the airport’s expenses and expectations of income. Mayor Still agreed with Allen to at least see what the bids of contractors to the do the work on the crosswinds runway would turn out to be before deciding whether to turn down the Arkansas Aeronautics grant.
City Attorney Randal Wright now read a proclamation of Black History Month.
Wilson sought and got permission to apply for a grant for funds to address needs for downtown sidewalk work by voice vote from the directors.
In city manager’s report Wilson drew attention to a proclamation to recognize the achievements of the Hope High School marching band.
Director Montgomery asked about parallel parking enforcement. Police Chief Kim Tomlin said cases would be addressed. City Attorney Wright is drafting an ordinance pertaining to parking that will mirror state law. Specifying Sixth and Sixteenth Streets as having bicycle lanes where parking is prohibited in certain hours was brought up with Wright saying these could be included in the ordinance he is working on. Signage would be needed. Street Superintendent Kenneth Harvel said these would cost about $85 each.
The meeting adjourned around 8:30 p.m.
