Count Basie Park to get new playground
Boro seeks grant funds for Marine Park upgrades
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

RED BANK - Borough children may have a new place to play as soon as Jan. 1, after the council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of playground equipment for Count Basie Park.

At the Nov. 26 Borough Council meeting, Miracle Recreation, the same company the borough used for East Side Park's equipment, was awarded the $28,238 contract for new playground equipment.

"It will just spruce up the park really nice and it just gives us an up to standard play area as well as state-of-the-art play area," Director of Parks and Recreation Bob Evans said Tuesday of the newly approved equipment. "I foresee the playground at Count Basie Park being done hopefully by the first of the year."

The council's Parks and Recreation Committee had previously looked at quotes from two other bidders and recommended that the contract be awarded to Miracle Recreation.

"We definitely looked at a couple other companies in regard to their play areas we felt that these two play areas were the best play areas and would fit into our plans and fit into the area that we are looking to design for," said Evans in a presentation to the council Oct. 22.

According to Evans, the money for the equipment will come from a Monmouth County Improvement Authority (MCIA) grant for about $38,000, so there will be money left over for future initiatives.

Also present at the Oct. 22 council meeting was a representative from Miracle Recreation, Bill Gibbons, to discuss the recommendations for both Count Basie Park and Marine Park, which was closed in October for safety reasons.

"Count Basie Park is a smaller area than we have at Marine Park so what we did there is design a play structure that accommodates both [ages] 2 to 5 and 5 to 12, it's a 2 to 12 [years old] play area," said Gibbons.

He described the recommendations for the Count Basie Park playground equipment, which include two climbers on either side of the structure, a small twister slide, a playpen, and a 5-foot-high deck.

In addition, he said, two toddler swings, two regular swings and two benches can be added to the play structure.

"We made a recommendation to the mayor and council to try to at least get one park done now, so right now, because of all the bulkhead work that needs to get done in Marine Park, we thought the best park to get done first would be Count Basie," said Evans Tuesday.

He said the playground equipment at Count Basie Park is outdated and some

of the parts no longer comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act

(ADA).

At the Oct. 22 meeting, Councilman

Michael DuPont also

expressed his concern

about the public not

being alerted sooner

that Marine Park was

being closed.

"I just think it's awful for the public to understand or to find out that their parks are closing when we've known it for quite some time," said DuPont. He added that he was "perturbed" to find out Oct. 10 at Candidates Night that Marine Park was closed.

Evans said Tuesday that the park was closed as a precaution to ensure no one would get hurt on the playground. He said the park liabilities include nuts and bolts sticking out of equipment, wood that was chipping, defacing by graffiti and rusty pieces that were sticking out.

Evans also said he is looking into a grant program to fund the sprucing up of Marine Park by the spring.

At the Oct. 22 meeting, Councilman John Curley also addressed complaints about Parks and Recreation Committee meetings being canceled.

"The people who have been complaining about not having parks and rec meetings have cancelled many meetings that were scheduled, they canceled and I told them the other day it's your responsibility as a citizen committee to come forth," said Curley.

He added, "We have made that commitment to the people of Red Bank that the decades of ill repair of our parks will be brought up to snuff."

Since the Oct. 22 meeting the Parks and Recreation Committee has been able to meet, according to Curley.