Two years after a push to make Southside Park completely accessible for handicap citizens, the project is still awaiting its finishing touches.
Playground equipment was installed in February, and the Richland Avenue park meets minimal Americans with Disabilities Acts standards for accessible design. But some local residents are saying the park misses a key element: a rubberized base that would allow wheelchairs to roll throughout the park.
“This is critical for wheelchair access,” said Richard Vedder, a fellow of the Rotary Club of Athens and a distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University. “(Athens) has been somewhat deficient in providing services to our handicapped youth.”
City officials have said they are wary about the costs of using a private contractor because it could be done in-house for almost half the cost, but Vedder said the city doesn’t have the know-how to get the job done correctly.
A private contractor could put the base down for about $150,000 — with the city footing the bill — but donations from private donors totaling about $78,000, have brought the projected cost for the city to about $72,000, Vedder said.
“We have been told that this is extremely skilled and precision work that needs to be done by specialists,” he said. “A non-professional installation opens up the city to liability suits and replacement expenses if the installation is imperfect.”
A city installation also might be in violation of the grant fund — made up of private donors who contributed to the $78,000 — which stipulated the money was to have the base installed professionally, Vedder said.
Still, Mayor Paul Wiehl said that, though the Rotary Club doesn’t want local government involved, they might not have a choice.
“It is our money, it is our park and how we choose to install (the rubberized base) is up to us,” he said. “The fact is, if we can save money on it versus the private sector, we might be able to do this at other parks.”
The city is considering the option of using a private firm, but either way, the city isn’t interested in starting the project until late summer, Director of Arts, Parks and Recreation Rich Campitelli said in an email.
“Children will be back to school, and the weather conditions are much more stable in the fall,” he said. “We will look at every opportunity to save money for the city and its residents, but there’s a fine line with the time and manpower it takes to do certain jobs.”
The playground would be closed for about two weeks to install the rubberized base, Campitelli said.
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