The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District approved a transfer of $1.5 million into its capital fund that will help underwrite improvements in three parks and cover the replacement costs for new air conditioning units at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Center.
Residents’ input helped make the decisions on which playground equipment options the board would purchase for Scandia Park in Homewood, Goldberg Park in Flossmoor and Pheasant Trails Park in Flossmoor. The total cost was $307,743.
Parks Executive Director Doug Boehm said play equipment generally has a life of 15-20 years, but these parks haven’t been updated in nearly 30 years. He expects it will take four to five weeks to get the new equipment.
The board also agreed to a $274,998 contract with Bedco Mechanical of Chicago for the installation of six new air conditioners at RFC. The company will install two large, two medium and two smaller units on the roof of the building. While only three units were in need of immediate replacement, the board agreed to take a $9,000 discount for replacing all six units. Because of the required time to get the units, the replacement work will be delayed until late August.
Karen Garrity, superintendent of finance and administration, said the $1.5 million being used to fund these projects comes for the park district’s fund balance.
In other business, the board hired LZ Design Build Group to provide appropriate Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access to the play area at Irwin Park from the Gottschalk Avenue side of the park. The contract is for $97,754. The improvement is one of the stipulations the H-F Park District needs to complete to get a $600,000 state grant to help with the $1.2 million improvements at the park’s play area.
