The City of Jamestown is close to bidding out the construction of its anticipated splash pad.
Mayor Lyndon Baines said the final few obstacles were recently cleared and the city should be receiving the contract to begin work soon.
“We’ve just been waiting on the state and some other things to get finalized finally,” Baines said. “All we have to do now is the state should send me the contract sometime by the end of this week or the first of next week. I’ll sign it and then we’ll go into a bidding process.”
Baines said Jamestown began the process of building a splash pad in 2018, when the city received a $200,000 match grant. He said the project was important to Jamestown’s late Mayor Darlene Monday Davis and it was something he wanted to see through to completion.
“Working with the state and federal government, there’s a lot of red tape,” Baines said. “It seems like this has taken forever, but finally, I believe once I sign that contract, we’re ready to go.”
If all goes as planned, Baines said the splash pad should open next summer. It will be located behind the Jamestown Community Center near the city pool.
“We usually open our pool near Memorial Day weekend,” Baines said. “I’m hoping by next year on Memorial Day weekend that we’ll have this ready to go and it’ll be done. Some of the work may stretch into the fall and winter, but I’m hoping by next Memorial Day we’ll have everything wide open.”