Want to take your kids on $800k swing set ride? A Beaufort County park will soon be the place
Beaufort County will open the Port Royal playground on Jan 27. complete with $800,000 worth of shiny blue and silver playground equipment. The facility’s opening will close the chapter on a project that frustrated county leaders last fall by somehow avoiding the established procurement process and council expense approvals needed prior to its installation.
In October, the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported that nearly $800,000 worth of equipment was installed at the Port Royal Community Center on Richmond Ave. The expense amount was four times greater than allowed under the existing procurement rules.
At the first county council meeting of 2024, Interim County Administrator John Robinson announced that the inclusive playground would have its grand opening on Jan. 27. The playground has been inaccessible to the public since its installation and after it’s approval as the county was awaiting sidewalk connectivity before opening. The sidewalks were installed shortly after Christmas, according to Robinson. The playground is categorized as “inclusive” because of its handicap access.
The the playground itself was installed in June. The purchase wasn’t brought to council’s attention until September. In an 8-2 decision, they voted to keep the equipment. Council members Paula Brown and David Bartholomew voted against approving the expense.
“It needs to go through the proper process,” Bartholomew said Thursday morning about why he voted against it. “It was essentially already gonna pass, but I wanted to make sure that people knew that we were paying attention and not just rubber stamping on these things.”
But overall, Bartholomew sees the benefit of the playground, feeling something good came out of a bad situation.
“It was already there, already installed, it was still a discount,” he said. “I don’t think it’s bad that we kept it, and not to mention it’s handicapped accessible. It’s needed.”
Council member Brown would have preferred if the county pursued other alternatives to footing the playground’s cost.
“I think we should have negotiated that bill, or just not paid it,” Brown said. “And if he didn’t want to negotiate, fine. The vendor should have known what our procedures were.”
Council person Alice Howard, whose district encompasses the playground and voted in favor of keeping it, was not reachable by phone Thursday morning.
What rules were broken?
The procurement rules are not overly complicated to understand, any purchase clearing $200,000 needs approval from the county council. The inclusive playground was nearly four times that cost at $799,052.
The playground was approved by former Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Loper. An invoice submitted to the county for the playground equipment is dated May 25, 2023 meaning the purchase was approved by Loper at least four months before the purchase was presented to council.
Loper was terminated from her position in Beaufort County two weeks after council voted to keep the playground. Robinson, who made the call, cited “violated the Beaufort County policy manual,” as the grounds for her termination.
The county has since posted a job listing for the Parks and Recreation Director Position.
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 3:05 PM.
