Aledo council takes a hard look at parks

The Aledo City Council took a detailed look at the city’s parks at its Aug. 22 meeting.

Whitney Walters, the city’s communications and engagement officer, walked the council through a look at the playground at the Aledo Community Center, Bearcat Park, and Howard Way Park. The city hired a park safety specialist to evaluate the three sites, and to determine if they meet safety standards.

The oldest park in the city is the playground at the community center, where the determination was that none of the equipment there met safety guidelines and needs to be removed.

Howard Way Park was in much the same situation, with playground equipment not meeting standards. Only one minor issue was found at Bearcat Park.

“There’s never been park inspections in Aledo that we can find in the record,” Aledo Mayor Nick Stanley said. “This process stems from Shawna Ford and myself calling on Noah and city staff to prioritize parks.”

In addition to the playground equipment itself, Stanley said he wants to make sure there are shade structures at the parks, not only for the children, but for parents.

“This is Texas, and we've experienced some really considerable heat. There's a shade structure over the Howard Way playground equipment that covers just the immediate playground. But in terms of parents, I'm cognizant of this because I have three young kids.  So now we're going to have shade structures,” Stanley said.

Nothing was nailed down at the meeting other than to direct staff to continue the process, which includes finding funds to upgrade the city’s parks.

With a tight city budget, Stanley commented, “We’re going to do as much as we can with as little as we have, and at the end of the day try to expand our parks.”

The council also voted to redeem about $205,000 in bond obligations from a 2012 issue.