Chandler Park swing set to be removed

by Peter Jakey-Managing Editor

Members of the Onaway City Commission followed the recommendation of its liability insurance provider and will remove the wooden swing sets at Chandler Park.

The matter was tabled at a previous meeting to give city manager Joe Hefele an opportunity to determine who constructed or donated them. They apparently were purchased as part of a group effort when the park was refurbished.

Hefele provided a letter from the firm at the Dec. 2 meeting, which included three recommendations.

The first two, regarding trenching and excavation and hazardous communication training, have taken place.

“I am working on a new haz com plan and some steps of this won’t be implemented until 2015-16, but we are compliant right now,” said Hefele.

The third recommendation was the wooden swing sets be removed “for liability reasons.”

City officials do not believe selling the swing set and using the proceeds to put in new equipment would be advisable because, “the insurance company sees them as a liability…somebody else gets them, and somebody gets hurt, (the person might say) I got these from the city.”

Hefele recommended moving them to the DPW property until further notice.

Commission members would like to see the set replaced with new equipment; however, considering the city’s tight budget, funding sources would have to come from elsewhere.

In other business from the Dec. 2 meeting, the commission heard a request from Village Corner Mobil owner Tom Janes, who expressed an interest in purchasing a small strip of property which extends along a piece he recently purchased from Tom Moran.

The entire strip is 389 feet deep and 22 feet wide. The city sold the southern 167 feet of this to Janes for $400 in January 1999, which has an ingress/egress easement provided to the Onaway Motel.

Janes is interested in the remaining 222 feet, and would need it for a potential expansion of his business.

“If you are familiar with the piece of property, if you go to the east of the building, there is a ramp, the fuel tanks are there,” said Hefele. “That is a waste of property for him…and when he gets busy it becomes somewhat difficult to get around that piece of property.”

Janes would like to move the fuel tank back and establish a rectangular parking lot and possibly put in a few more fuel pumps.

“At this point, what we need to do is to move forward with title insurance on this,” said Hefele. “The di

mensions that the county equalization department is showing, it is different than what the recent survey is showing. Before we actually have him pay money for something, we need to show clear defined ownership, and we are not going to be able to do that without going through a title insurance process.”

None of Janes plans are expected to occur before spring or summer. The owner also said he would cover the expenses.

Hefele did not expect any further action until next year.

A motion was approved for the attorney to continue the process.