Parks and Recreation took center stage during the resolution portion of the April 11 Cheney City Council meeting. The department, which typically doesn’t present at council meetings, has received one grant and is in the process of applying for four others.
The council voted unanimously to receive a $4,000 grant from the Spokane Parks Foundation. Kim Best, recreation manager, said the Cheney Youth Commission had originally asked for $5,000, and plans to use the money to upgrade amenities at the city’s Hagelin Park, including installation of a nine-hole disc golf course.
“We don’t have something like this in Cheney,” Best said.
Council also approved applications for four other grants, including a $20,000 Meet Me at the Park Grant. The grant is available through the National Recreation and Parks Association and a collaboration with the Walt Disney Company. To win the award, residents need to go online to http://www.meetmeatthepark.org, register to vote and then write-in “Cheney, Wash.” in the write in space.
If Cheney receives the most votes and wins the award, Best said they plan to use the money for other park amenities, including a new playground at Hagelin.
The department is also applying for another $20,000 grant through the Kaboom! and Dr. Pepper/Snapple organizations to help with funding park upgrades. The “Let’s Play Video” grant requires submission of a video and online voting to pick the top-five best videos which will receive grant awards.
Best said they applied for the grant several years ago, but are teaming with Eastern Washington University’s film department this go-round to make a more “professional” video.
Finally, Cheney’s Youth Commission is applying for two smaller grants, a $300 Youth Mini Grant and a $500 Spokane Gives grant. If successful, the latter would be used to plant trees in Cheney on Earth Day, while the former would go towards replacing boards and painting the gazebo in Sutton Park, once it has been renovated structurally.
In other business, council approved awarding of a contract to DJ’s Electric for replacing of power poles and wire between Fourth and Seventh streets. DJ’s base bid was $146,880 — with the other two bids at $173,000 and $284,000 — but Light Department Director Steve Boorman requested an allocation of $201,280, which would cover alternates and additions.
“I expect when we do the work, we’ll find more poles to replace,” Boorman said.
Finally, council approved a new contract with AFSCME 270-C (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), the city’s largest bargaining unit representing employees from finance to the public works departments. The contract provides a 2.25 percent wage increase in 2017, but is only for one year versus the typical 3-4 years, Schuller said, because of uncertainty over medical insurance benefits.
“It’s basically buying us some time to sort that out,” Schuller said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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