JAY — Selectpersons voted 4-1 Monday to spend up to $4,000 from the town’s Recreation Reserve Account to place playground-grade chip material under the equipment at the Church Street Playground.

The money will also be used to replank benches and picnic table at the park.

After a recent insurance inspection, an inspector told town representatives they needed to place chip material or sand under each piece of playground equipment to meet safety requirements, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.

Given there are many cats in the Church Street area, sand did not seem to be the answer, she said.

The playground equipment can be repositioned to allow a 50-by-80-foot section across the back of the playground to be completely covered with chips.

Selectperson Judy Diaz said when they did the  playground at the elementary school several years ago, a person donated mulch. 

LaFreniere said this time playground-grade chips are required.

Selectpersons Tom Goding, Gary McGrane, Chairman Terry Bergeron and Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo voted in favor of the project, while Diaz was opposed.

LaFreniere said she received a call from a resident living on Jewell Street, which abuts the park, who had concerns about people parking their vehicles on Jewell Street and cutting through the park to go to Church Street or another destination. A fence that had been at the back of the playground kept being taken down so town employees rolled it back last year. 

The fence will be put back because it is needed to hold the chips in, LaFreniere said.

She told the woman to call police if people are doing anything improper at the park, or if they continue to cut through and take the fence down.

Selectpersons also voted unanimously Monday to let Police Chief Richard Caton IV spend up to $18,000 from a reserve account to reimburse another agency that paid for an officer to go through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro. Caton wants to hire a certified, full-time officer. 

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

As a result of an insurance inspection at the Church Street Playground in Jay, the town needs to place chip material underneath each piece of the playground’s equipment in order to meet playground safety requirements. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal) 

The town of Jay needs to place chip material under each piece of the playground’s equipment at the Church Street Playground to meet playground safety requirements. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)