ESCANABA — Residents whose Independence Day celebrations involve a trip to an Escanaba park playground may need to make other plans this year. Playgrounds at five of the city’s parks are slated to be removed prior to the holiday as the city prepares for their replacement.

“Unfortunately, if it gets approved tonight on installation for (July) it’s going to mean that there’s not going to be that many playgrounds for the Fourth of July at these five parks because those playgrounds are going to need to be removed of structures in order to begin right after the Fourth of July to put all the new five playgrounds in,” said Escanaba Department of Public Works Director Kent DuBord at the city council’s regular meeting Thursday.

The city had a few reasons to select July for the playground’s installation. First, the city has more available DPW staff available to work on the equipment installation during the middle of the summer when seasonal help is available. Second, the council approved the hiring two members of playground equipment manufacturer GameTime to assist with the installation and the GameTime workers were only available for installations in July and August.

Hiring the two GameTime employees for a total cost of $20,000 and using three DPW workers as well as volunteer labor, as approved Thursday, will lead to a significant cost savings for the city. If a full GameTime crew were hired to install all of the new park equipment, installation alone would cost the city $65,000.

The DPW department could have taken on the full task on installation, however the slate of DPW projects next summer is heavier than usual with lead line replacement projects and a streetscaping project at the end of Ludington Street. It was also suggested Thursday that using some GameTime employees opened the city up to a warranty on the new playground equipment that otherwise would not be available.

Under the two-person from GameTime plan, the playground replacements are expected to take 2 to 3 weeks to install all five playgrounds. The playgrounds being replaced are located at Stephenson, Rose, Royce, Veterans and Sylvan Point Parks.

Not all of the park equipment removal will be done by city staff. During Thursday’s meeting the council approved donating the existing playground equipment at Royce Park to Baldwin Township in exchange for the township removing the park equipment themselves and making a $2,000 payment to the city.

Because all five parks are being replaced because they are in disrepair and are no longer Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant, the council raised concerns over the transfer. DuBord noted that the township had been made aware of the condition of the equipment, that not all of the equipment from the park would be used by the township, and that the agreement between the two municipalities included a clause that held the city harmless for the equipment once transferred.

The approval to purchase the replacement equipment for Rose Park was also approved Thursday. The other four playgrounds were ordered last October and were funded through a grant from GameTime, a $15,000 donation from the Escanaba Rotary for renovations at Silvan Point Park, and $127,894.20 of city matching funds.

The Rose Park playground approved Thursday will be paid for using city funds and a grant from the DTE Foundation that was applied for by the Community Foundation for Delta County, as the city was ineligible to apply fo the grant itself.

“We were fortunate. The community Foundation sponsored a grant and we did receive it through the DTE Foundation for $50,000. So there is a match obviously for the city here, but it’s not often that you get over 50% for playgrounds,” said City Manager Jim McNeil.

The Rose Park Playground will cost a total of $85,847.99, but with the $50,000 grant, the city will only be responsible for $35,847.99.