PRPL is seeking City Council consent to purchase new playground equipment for Sacajawea Park from Grondahl Recreation who is an authorized Sourcewell cooperative purchasing agent.  Playground equipment cost as proposed by Grondahl Recreation is $231,267.90.  Project will be funded through the approved CIP 2025 budget.

Replacement of the Sacajawea Park playground was approved in the CIP2025 budget.  Playground replacement is due to failing equipment, age, use, and parts availability.  It has exceeded the manufacturer's suggested life expectancy. Through research of park records it appears this playground was installed in the year 2000. Also, replacement parts are becoming harder to obtain due to the age of the playground.  The proposed playground was selected through public opinion including canvassing Central Heights elementary as well as Neighborhood Taskforce.

Sourcewell is a national cooperative purchasing organization that helps local governments, schools, and nonprofits streamline procurement by offering competitively solicited contracts for a wide range of products and services. By leveraging collective buying power, Sourcewell enables local governments to save time and money, ensuring compliance with competitive bidding requirements while accessing pre-negotiated pricing and trusted suppliers.

The City of Billings
PRPL
Neighborhood Task Force
Central Heights Elementary

City Council may:

• Approve the use of CIP 2025 funds to purchase new playground equipment
• Not Approve resulting in the continued decay of the current playground ND Ultimately resulting in the playground being removed due to unsafe conditions.

Procurement of the equipment will be through the cooperative purchasing agreement (Sourcewell) with Grondahl Recreation, as the pricing is similar to competitive bid pricing.  CIP budget for 2025 allotted $400,000 to purchase a new playground and have it installed. The current price for the equipment is $231,267.90. PRPL will be responsible for removing the old playground in preparation for the new one.  PRPL does not expect to hire any FTEs.  Maintenance costs is expected to decrease in the short term but have a minor increase over time as the playground will begin to need replacement parts.