City approves billing report for playground equipment

The Madison City Commission received information during its meeting this week on the total cost of putting in new playground equipment at Memorial Park.  In order to receive grant funding for the project from the state through the Game, Fish and Parks Land and Water Conservation Fund, city officials needed to complete a billing report on the project.  Roxie Ebdrup, an Administrative Coordinator for the city’s Streets, Parks, Solid Waste, and Recycling Department, told commissioners that the overall total cost of the playground project was close to 239-thousand dollars.  The city is requesting to receive 75-thousand dollars in grant reimbursement from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  The City also received a grant of just more than 17-thousand dollars through Wellmark that will be used toward the cost of the project.  Ebdrup said that funding from a couple of reserve accounts was also used to help pay for the new playground equipment.  She said that the city has received a lot of positive feedback about the new playground.

Also during their regular meeting this week, commissioners approved the purchase of some equipment for the city’s parks and street departments.  Park Supervisor Mike McGillivray said that the bid for a new Gehl track loader is just under 50-thousand dollars, and the bid for a new brush mower is just more than 10-thousand dollars.  Both bids are from Lake County International of Madison.  Commissioners approved the purchase of the two pieces of equipment, with the cost being split between the city’s parks and streets budgets.