Marathon City park will get playground set
The Marathon City Village Board last week Wednesday voted to let the Marathon Lions Club install a set of refurbished playground equipment in Tower Park.
The equipment, purchased from the village of Plover for $8,000, will be erected on a 56 by 38 foot area in the park located along STH 107 at the south end of the village. The equipment includes three straight slides, one spiral slide, a tower and three sets of monkey bars.
Village administrator Andy Kurtz told trustees that in exchange for the play equipment the village would provide material, such as chips, to minimize child injury. He said the village could install wood chips under the equipment for $2,600.
Board members said Kurtz should get bids for both rubber chips and pea gravel as alternatives.
Trustee Keith Paul, a Marathon Lions Club member, said Marathon Industrial Finishing agreed to sand blast and repaint the equipment at a favorable price.
“It’s going to look like a brand new playground equipment up there,” he said.
Board members voted to authorize Kurtz to provide safety material for the playground equipment at a price not to exceed $3,000.
The sum fits within the village’s park budget.
In other board action:
_ Administrator Kurtz announced the Village of Marathon City Police Department would not participate in Marathon County’s Superion law enforcement data system. That decision was made, he said, when the county announced it wanted the village to use a virtual server, not an upgraded server in the village hall. Kurtz said the village would use a Michigan law enforcement data program for record keeping. The arrangement, he said, would save the village $9,500 annually. “That’s a good thing for us,” Kurtz said. “It’s done and we’re moving on.”
_ Administrator Kurtz said he planned to use $10,000 left from the CARES Act Routes to Recovery federal grant to pay for postage, cleaning supplies and manpower needed to run the November general election.
_ Board members agreed to wait until their October meeting to decide whether to hold Halloween Trick or Treating given the COVID-19 pandemic. The village will contact the Marathon County Health Department for its recommendation.
_ Board members agreed to charge $50 for a group to hold a hunter’s safety training in the Marathon City village hall community room for 10 students.
_ Following a closed session, board members agreed to give all village employees a 2.1 percent wage increase.
It was announced the village’s health and dental insurance package purchased through Central States would
increase in price next year by 4.2 percent.
LOOKS BRAND NEW-Sheila Miller-Vojtech, co-owner of Marathon Industrial Finishing, explains to Marathon Lions Club treasurer Keith Paul, center, and president Dave Tylinski, right, how her company sandblasted and repainted used playground equipment the club will install at Tower Park in Marathon City. The 25-year-old playground equipment purchased by the Lions Club for $8,000 from the village of Plover will look brand new after the paint job at the local company.
