by Geoff Fox
The splash pad has only been open for a year and already there have been a couple issues, but there are some improvements.
During the town meeting on Tuesday, July 8, officials discussed air dryers and showers at the bathhouse, water usage, and the demolition of the small building beside the bathhouse.
Because people are using a lot of paper towels to dry off at the splash pad bathhouse, town officials are looking to install electric hand dryers in the restrooms.
Town manager Mike Faith said he’s getting prices on the hand dryers and officials will probably end up going with them.
“The dryers are expensive, they’re almost $800 to $1,000 a piece, but over time they’ll pay for themselves and less mess,” he said.
Councilwoman Terry Breakall-Smith added people have been flushing the paper towels in the toilets, which clogs the toilets and requires a plumber.
Faith said there have been issues in the sewer line at the park in the past.
New automatic sensors have been installed on the toilets at the Lions pavilion as well as in the bathhouse, so they’ll automatically flush.
In the old system, Faith said it was like turning on a spigot and you had to hold it with the toilet not getting flushed.
“So it was always a problem,” he said.
Faith did say the restrooms do get checked every day, but they are public restrooms and they do get dirty and the trash gets full.
“We’re doing the best we can,” he said. “We’re not going to check them 20 times a day.”
Faith added that every time he’s been out to check the restrooms, they’ve been as clean as can be expected for a public restroom.
Breakall-Smith asked about the showers in the bathhouse and if they were still working or if they had been removed
Mayor Roland Lanehart, Jr. said they had been turned off right now with Faith adding they were at the point of being so outdated, the showers would have to be replaced.
Breakall-Smith did note people also leave the showers running as another reason.
Faith told a brief story about how on days he and his friends were cold, they’d take hot showers at the bathhouse and run the shower all day only to have Breakall-Smith’s mother chase them out of the bathhouse.
“So I know what’s going to happen,” he said with laughs.
Right now, there haven’t been complaints about people not being able to take showers at the splash pad, but if there are, Faith said they could look at possibly turning the showers back on.
There is a state requirement, though, for an outside shower and Faith said the cement pad is already poured. Town crews will run the plumbing for a showerhead.
Lanehart said it could be a shower where you have to pull a cord for the water to come out.
The mega dump feature, which is the large bucket with the Town of Hancock logo on the side, has also been causing some water loss at the splash pad.
It’s a 30-gallon bucket that dumps water every three minutes and, as Faith said, about half the water is falling off the splash pad.
With the splash pad, the town is using roughly 3,000 gallons of water a day.
During a three day period while the town was pouring concrete for the patio at the splash pad, the mega dump was turned off, which saw the water usage drop to 1,500 gallons a day.
“We figured the mega dump was using about 1,500 gallons a day because it was dumping so much water off the pad,” Faith said.
With the new concrete pad, Faith said you could see water running down to the center of the patio. He has video and the readings and a few pictures sent to Splash Pad USA.
Faith said the company would have to fabricate something to help stop the runoff from the mega dump to save some water.
When the splash pad was being constructed, officials were told it would use about a household’s worth of water a day, but the 3,000 is above that use, Faith said.
The challenge, Faith added, with so many features, Splash Pad USA hadn’t built one that size before.
The goal is to shoot for about 500 gallons a day usage at the splash pad.
“We’re going to do everything we can,” Faith said.
He doesn’t think there’s any leaks at the site and hasn’t seen any water on the grounds.
Councilman David Kerns said people never figured in how much water was leaving the splash pad in people’s clothing.
Kerns did say the one plus is the splash pad has been busy and if there’s a loss, it’s because people have been using the splash pad.
People have been coming from all over to use the splash pad.
Lanehart said a group from Martinsburg came to Hancock use the splash pad and while in town bought a number of pizzas from Little Caesar’s.
“If they stop at one or two of our businesses, we got them in town,” the mayor said.
The small building to the side of the bathhouse, where the old pump equipment used to be housed, is going to be demolished.
If the town were to keep the building, it would require work as it is separated from the bathhouse and is slowly sinking.
Faith said the idea would be demolish the structure and rebuild a new one similar to what is being built to house the splash pad pumps.
There were discussions with Public Works about using it as a storage shed, but a decision needed to be made because of the fencing that would be run around the splash pad.
Town crews would have to tear the building down and then dispose of the materials themselves, Faith said.
Kerns said when the building was constructed, it was built without floaters, leading to its sinking.
The estimated cost would run close to what the current project, which is about $3,000 in material.
If a new structure was rebuilt in the same spot or at the bathhouse, it would be for storage for chemicals along with the playground and splash pad equipment in the winter.
Right now, the chemicals for the splash pad are being transported from the well house to the splash pad.
Faith said he didn’t feel safe with the chemicals being driven through town, so it would be better to have them stored at the splash pad.
Lanehart suggested having Public Works tearing the building down, with Kerns emphasizing saving the tresses, and then having an RFP to get someone to build a new one at the same size as the one they have for the splash pad pumps.
With the splash pad being used so heavily right now, town officials decided until after the splash pad is closed for the season and grass mowing is done.
“It’s not hurting anything where it is right now,” Kerns said.
The structure has already been cleared of the previous contents, which Faith said would have been a big project.
