Essex administration will come back to council with a budget amount for additional swings to be put at a local park.
Dana Williams, an Essex resident, went forward to council on Monday evening with concerns over the lack of swing sets that will be available at the new playground in Stanton Park once installed.
She says that residents in the area voted on a new playground design, but they were not informed that the existing swing sets, which can accommodate 10 children, would be removed with only three swings in the new design.
Town administration stated during the meeting that the playground at Stanton Park is not up to code, and therefore needs to be updated.
A motion was brought forward to ask Williams if the local residents in the area could fundraise part of the funding to add additional swings, and that administration will look into the 2024 budget for funding to add more swings.
The motion was approved, and Williams says that she believes those in the Stanton Court area would be happy to fundraise.
Jake Morassut, Director of Community Services for the Town of Essex, says they would want to maintain a similar theme between all new parks.
"So we would want to make sure that the rubber flooring is matching, that's the standard that we've been setting with all of our new parks. So if we were looking to add four additional swings with the rubber flooring, based on the footprint that we have, we'd be looking at approximately $40,000 in today's value."
Sherry Bondy, Essex mayor, says she would commit to more swings in the 2024 budget.
"I think it's important, I also really like the fundraising idea and I know that puts some onus back on the community but maybe we could rent out one of our facilities like the Shaheen room, the Dog Pound Committee did it and they did a really successful job with it. And you just hold a couple of pasta fundraiser's, you make $5,000 and we're a little bit already there."
Dana Williams says she has no doubt that fundraising could be done.
"I can tell you that we are a little community within a community. We know each others kids, we're friends, we're family. We take care of one another and I have no doubt that if asked to do fundraising, my daughter would probably be all over it, she'd probably set up a lemonade stand."
Since 2015, the Town has been replacing and upgrading parks throughout the municipality.
The construction at Stanton Park is slated to being in early Spring 2024.