Contract issued for new splash pad at Manzo Park

If everything goes according to plan, west-end kids should be able to dip a toe in the new Manzo Park splash pad later this year.

The city has awarded a $249,950 contract to Diamond Head Sprinklers Inc. of Tiny, Ont., to design, supply and install the splash pad components.

A separate tender for site services there, valued up to $357,000, is expected to be issued in the next few weeks.

"If everything goes according to the schedule that we have right now, [the project completion] would be toward the end of the summer," Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, told last week's city council meeting.

ABC Recreation Ltd. of Paris, Ont., and Yard Weasels Inc. of Fergus, Ont., also submitted proposals.

Manzo Park, located on Goetz Street at Young, was chosen by city council in November 2021 over the Elliott Sports Complex on Rossmore Road and Lennox Park on Lennox Avenue off Bainbridge.

Also at last week's city council meeting:

• a four-acre parcel of land on Yates Avenue was sold for $200,000 to Vector Freight Systems Inc. of White River. Vector hauls mostly wood chips and plans to set up operations here in a 6,000-square-foot facility. Between 10 and 15 jobs will be created 
• councillors stopped the clock on TikTok, banning the popular video app from all city-owned electronic devices
• the City of Sault Ste. Marie entered an economic partnership with Garden River First Nation
• a $4 million contract to upgrade the front entrance plaza of the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre was awarded to a local company
• a review will be done of the city's traffic signals