MOUNDSVILLE — City leaders received a major change in the form of a $10,000 community economic development grant to support the complete renovation of the East End Park playground.
The grant was presented in an informal ceremony Friday afternoon by Rep. Charlie Reynolds, R-Marshall, who presented the check to Mayor Rick Healy and other city officials. Healy said the funds will cover half of his $20,000 renovation project for the playground, specifically a pair of slides.
“We’ve been renovating East End Park and Playground for three and a half years, and our goal has always been to put something new and different there,” says Healy.
“One of the things we’ve been looking at for the last few years is a hillside slide. This check will go toward the purchase and installation of those slides.”
Healy said the grant funding was a huge boon to the city and helped keep the purchase within budget.
“We were waiting for the right time financially. When we met with Delegate Reynolds and he made this money available, we could finance more than half of this project so it would be easier for us to get our hands on it. …in 2019 we installed a new playground and since then we’ve added a few components and this is another component that we were excited about but pulled the trigger It never happened.”
The Hillside slides will be custom-made to fit the hillside and will be installed side by side, Healy said.
Reynolds added that he was pleased to secure the grant to support the youth of Marshall County.
“We need it for our kids. When they go to[the Four Seasons pool]some of them don’t want to swim, but they can do something other than swing on the swing.” ‘ says Reynolds.
Additionally, in a separate presentation, Reynolds honored health department foreman Terry Bessels with a legislative citation for his years of service to the city. Bessels was greeted by his wife Carla and several family members, colleagues and city leaders.
