'Rather do this right than do it quick': What's holding up Idaho Falls from getting a splash park - East Idaho News
Idaho Falls

‘Rather do this right than do it quick’: What’s holding up Idaho Falls from getting a splash park

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IDAHO FALLS — Although the City Council has unanimously voted to reject all proposals that have been brought up to build a splash park in Reinhart Park this year, officials say they are not against the idea.

In fact, they have been talking about a splash park for about 10 years. They say they just want to make sure it is done correctly.

“We would rather do this right than do it quick,” PJ Holm, the director of Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation, told EastIdahoNews.com. He was referencing similar comments from council member Jim Francis during the City Council meeting last week where the council rejected all bids for the project.

Bud Cranor, public information officer for Idaho Falls, said the city posted a request for proposal where contractors could respond with a bid for what they would charge to execute the plan. Generally, the contractors who meet all the qualifications and provide the lowest bid get chosen to build the project.

Out of the three bids the city received back, none of them met all the qualifications listed in the RFP.

“We were disappointed that none of the bids that we got worked for us, but we know with a little bit more time, we are going to build an amazing splash pad in our community,” he said.

The city will post another RFP in the next couple of weeks.

“We are going to try to turn it around and not miss a beat,” Holm said.

He said he hopes that if a bid gets selected, processes can begin soon to allow construction to start in spring of next year. Officials are hopeful for a splash park to be open by Memorial Day 2021.

City officials said they hope to learn enough from this first splash pad to develop and build more throughout the community in the next several years.

“This will hopefully be one of many,” Cranor said.

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