The Kenai City Council met on Wednesday night to discuss a new ordinance that would increase revenues for the Parks and Recreation department.
This ordinance ( 3376-2023) would take a grant that was provided by Marathon Petroleum, and use those funds to purchase playground equipment.
According to City Manager Terry Eubank, the council received $20,000 from Marathon Petroleum, for the purchase of some inclusive play equipment for the Municipal Park.
“We received the money in FY 23. I don’t believe it was appropriated. So it lapsed into fund balance a year end. We want to argue the donation so this is now appropriating out of fund balance for the project,” said Eubank.
Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best said the playground equipment that would be included is an inclusive seesaw.
“But it has a number of features that go beyond like ADA has kind of looked at the minimum and this goes beyond the minimum, it has colors it has sensory and it’s highly accessible at that park. And it also fell within that price range that we were able to get the grant for so it seems like this piece of equipment hit the biggest age range and the biggest user groups is why we selected,” said Best.
If the ordinance passed, Best hopes to purchase the seesaw by the spring, and have it installed in time for summer.
After a vote, all 7 council members were in favor of the purchase.
Mayor Gabriel shared his gratitude towards Marathon Petroleum, and their donation, and thinks this seesaw is going to be a fun addition for the children to play on.