County commissioners updated on renovations for Melaina's Magical Playland

Melaina’s Magical Playland will be undergoing some renovations in the near future.

During the Monday, May 13, meeting of the Cape Girardeau County Commission, the county’s park superintendent, Bryan Sander, notified the commissioners about replacing the playground’s rubber surface.

“We’re putting in an addition onto Melaina’s playground, and through all that the surface is starting to peel apart down there at Melaina’s. So, I’ve contacted (Delano, Minnesota-based playground equipment company) Landscape Structures to do what they call a ‘pour and play’ surface,” Sander told the commissioners. “They basically come and mix up the rubber and pour it out onto the playground.”

Melaina’s Magical Playland is named after Melaina Cunningham, a 3-year-old girl with the rare muscular disorder nemaline myopathy who died in 2009.

Melaina’s parents, Jeff and Andrea Cunningham, spearheaded an effort to create a playground that could accommodate children with and without disabilities. The playground is located in Cape Girardeau County Park North.

The new playground surface is supposed to last 10 years, Sander said, but since the existing surface was installed only eight years ago, he said the new one would likely not reach ten years of use before needing to be replaced again.

In 2016, replacing the rubber ground tiles took from late March to mid-April. The playground uses these instead of wood chips so children with mobility aids or wheelchairs can reach the play equipment.

In total, the playground renovations this summer would cost $262,040, Sander said, with some $100,000 available to get back through a grant. In addition to the rubber resurfacing, the project would include replacing a slide and cloud steps.

New equipment, including a musical garden section and spinner toys, would be added, as well. Sander said the Cunninghams would pay for these.

“In the perfect world, if we can get everything coordinated, getting them here and installing the playground and surfacing is not a problem,” Sander said.

Reservations at the adjacent park shelter are closed from July 1 until the end of the year to coincide with potential construction.

Other business

Riverside Regional Library director Frankie Lea Hannan provided an annual report to the commissioners about the library’s operations.

This was Hannan’s first such report to the commission since she started in her position in November.

She said there was a large turnover in staff, especially with the children’s library, but that the staff did well in keeping the summer reading program going. The library’s Scott City branch grew from 2,800 square feet to 4,200 square feet through renovations, adding a program room and storage space.

Physical circulation in the library is down, Hannan added, but digital circulation numbers have skyrocketed. There was a slight decrease in registered users and a slight increase in overall library visits.

Hannan said the Riverside Regional Library had income of $1,990,841 last year and expenses of $1,542,464, with current net assets of $3,180,328, an increase over the last fiscal year of 18%.

The commissioners also discussed looking at what it would cost to change the copper in the dome and gutters of the county’s 1908 courthouse, which is currently under renovation.

“Very expensive, but we do have a few pinhole leaks in the dome. It seems we can get somebody with silicone and pennies to go up and caulk it, or we look at the price again,” Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper said.

Sander also suggested launching a request for proposals regarding landscaping at the courthouse, which Koeper and fellow commissioners Clint Tracy and Charlie Herbst approved doing.