Sedalia Park Board Updated on Heckart, Approves Bids

Sedalia Parks and Rec Executive Director Amy Epple gave an update on the Heckart Community Center during the regular monthly meeting of the Sedalia Park Board on Wednesday evening.

“In the gym, other than the floor and some sports equipment, it's almost completely finished,” Epple told KSIS after the meeting. “The floor will be one of the very last things we do. With contractors going in and out, we don't want to damage the floor. It's called Sportsflex, it's really good for volleyball, pickleball and basketball.”

Epple explained that a hardwood floor was not used in the community center due to the danger of moisture from the pool area damaging a hardwood floor.

“There are way too many community centers who have had to replace their floors because of the humidity and moisture getting underneath and buckling it. And with us having three high-school sized courts, there's no way that I could take a $750,000 chance on that,” she said. “And it's happened to way too many (community centers).”
Epple noted that she and daughter did plenty of research and visited a dozen community centers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Illinois.

The pool layout is for the most part done except for the hot tub. What's next is the painting and the adding of tiles and the outside of it.

“The Senior Center is coming along very nicely. Office spaces are all done. Child Watch indoor playground has been approved. The outdoor playground has been approved, they'll start working on that at the end of September. Asphalt will be poured later this month. It's just that the pool will take a while. So we'll just keep moving along and doing what we can,” Epple said.

Park Board members will take a tour of the Heckart in September. Epple noted the elevators should be in working order by then.

The HVAC system at the new center is on and working well, and the Park Board is paying the electrical bill already, she noted.

A quick glance at Park Department bills for July show a total of $19,506.68 was paid to Evergy for monthly electrical usage. A new air conditioner from ACR for Liberty Park Stadium cost nearly $6,000 ($5,931).

A part for the broken HVAC at Convention Hall, where Wednesday's meeting took place, is on back order and should arrive Aug. 20, Epple said.

Also during the meeting, the Park Board, which was missing four members, approved a “tip-and-roll” bleacher bid from GT Grandstand for the Community Center for $21,490. Epple explained that the bleacher request was bid out previously a couple of months ago by Paric & SFS, but a guaranteed price could not be confirmed, and was hovering around $32,000. So the Park Board bid out the project themselves and went with GT Grandstand at a substantial savings. “It's exactly what we needed,” Epple told the Park Board of the 16 bleachers.

Also approved at Wednesday's meeting was the printing of a 33-page full-color booklet touted as an activity guide showcasing Sedalia Parks & Rec's offerings. A total of $25,000 was budgeted for the project, and the bid from Graphic Resource came in at $11,978.02, which was $200 above the lowest bid. The booklets will be mailed to all those in the 65301 Zip Code area, Epple said. It will also be posted online.

Graphic Resource will do everything, she added, including design, layout, printing, postage, delivery, etc.

The activity guide will have everything, she said, including information on the Heckart Community Center, the parks and shelters, and how to register.

“We're really growing in programs and activities. We will send it out twice a year. This is something we've wanted to do every year, then we stop, because financially it wasn't a good move. But now with the Heckart Community Center, we really need to be to able to get all that information out there,” Epple said.

Worlds of Wow from Texas was selected as the best bidder for indoor playground equipment for the Heckart.

“We even had a local bid that was cheaper, but we were looking for the tunnels and slides. The local bid was not what we were looking for,” Epple said. And Worlds of Wow will match the official colors of the Heckart – orange, purple and turquoise.

A total of $100,000 was budgeted for the playground equipment, and the Worlds of Wow bid came in at $86,549.54.

In the photo: The construction site of the Heckart Community Center as seen on Thursday morning.