A child injured falling off playground equipment has led Gainesboro to want to replace the mulch at the City Park.
Gainesboro Aldermen discussed replacing the playground mulch with a rubber mulch to make the playground safer for children. Alderman Deborah Whitaker said in the past, the school system bought rubber mulch for all of the Pre-K playgrounds. Whitaker said installing rubber mulch did not solve the playground problems.
“It floats really well if you get a rain, and it will be here, and you get a good rain, and it’s here,” Whitaker said. “The other thing is it also grows mold really well.”
Public Works Director John Pigg said installing rubber mulch would also require removing the current mulch, which would be a huge undertaking. Pigg said the mulch at the playground is several years old and that he believes the town would be better off just adding the same type of wooden mulch.
“A lot of it is just compacted down, and it’s more dust than it is mulch,” Pigg said. “So it may be something that you know, we can just add some more to it and get it back up to level. Like a kid falling, that’s one of those things that’s gonna happen, but with the mulch being so compacted, if it would have had more fluff to it, it may have cushioned it a little bit, but I mean, there’s no telling I mean, a kid falls just right on feathers and you know they can still break a bone.”
Pigg said he recommends getting a dump truck and purchasing 22-23 tons of mulch, and see how far that would get them.
Town Clerk Lisa Dodson said there is a Blue Cross Blue Shield grant that the town could go after to help cover the cost. Dodson also said the town could look at getting a rubber mat, as more parks are now going with it rather than mulch. Pigg said he will get quotes to see which would be the cheapest and best option.
