The City Council of Webster City inched closer to fully committing to the East Twin Park splash pad Monday in a split vote: four to one.
Matt McKinney was the lone no in a roll call vote that followed a long period during which the council let the public express their views of the project.
The bulk of the speakers addressed the costs involved with the installation and operation of the splash pad that, if it succeeds in going forward to bid in January, is estimated to be complete by late summer 2024.
Perhaps the most apt comment from the speakers came from Darlene Dingman, of Webster City, who said: “Please make smart decisions for us and our money.”
Acknowledging the optics of the council pushing the splash pad project forward during the same meeting it also voted to raise water rates by 30%, McKinney said: “I just don’t know if now is the right time.”
He added: “Do we really need the added expense?”
At the start of the meeting, Webster City Police Chief Shiloh Mork calmly escorted an upset Denny Longhenry, of Webster City, whose impassioned remarks against the splash pad were cut short by Mayor John Hawkins, who asked him to delay his comments until the splash pad came up in agenda order.
Longhenry responded angrily.
“Have you noticed we’ve been in a two-year drought in this area? And you want to send one of our valuable resources, water, down the river?”
He was interrupted by Hawkins.
“I’m speaking. I’m speaking. Down the river? No.”
“Look,” Hawkins said, “I will have you removed from here …”
As a result of the verbal back and forth, Webster City Police Chief Shiloh Mork stepped up and calmly escorted Longhenry from the podium. He did not speak later when the splash pad item arose.
Later in the meeting, when the public was encouraged to speak up, Kathy Baker, a local resident said: “That money needs to go to something else in this town.”
The proposed splash pad, at 3,500 square feet and operating roughly 80 days a year, according to experts, would likely use millions of gallons of water a year, McKinney pointed out.
Councilman Logan Welch, saying he liked having the public voice their opinions, also pointed out the value of having council members Abbie Hansen and Megan McFarland.
“Mothers with children,” he called them.
McFarland said: “For the community, really, is that the infrastructure projects that we’re going to pay for my children will have children. Is that it? Does everyone feel like we don’t do any other amenities because those infrastructure projects are going to take years and years and years to pay for?”
On the split vote, the council set January 15, 2024, at 6:05 p.m. for the splash pad hearing. That hearing will focus on proposed plans and specifications and proposed form of contract and estimate of cost for construction of the East Twin Park splash pad.
View this article as it originally appeared in the Daily Freeman-Journal.
Last modified: December 5, 2023