The Balaton City Council on Monday moved forward with plans to install a new handicap-accessible bathroom at Legion-Lion Park.
The bathrooms are currently set up for a men’s and women’s bathroom which does not allow enough room for handicap accessiblity.
The new design will be 9 feet by 9 feet to allow for a 5-foot turnaround as well as a 3-foot, 6-inch doorway. Originally, the bathroom was bid to include a skylight for lighting. However, the bathroom will have to have hot water, which means electricity will be needed to run to the building. Therefore, the council decided that installing lights would be a better option. In addition, eliminating the skylight eliminates potential maintenance problems.
Jeremy Swenson with the Balaton Area Community Foundation told the council that rough numbers for the project including adding electrical, tearing down the old structure, building the new structure, materials and plumbing would be just under $25,000. The City has a $10,000 grant from Xcel Energy that needs to be spent this month.
The council received several bids for the project. They approved the low bid for materials from ACE hardware in Marshall for $6,565.49 (5-0), the low contractor bid from Balaton Construction of $4,100 (4-0 with Greg Erickson abstaining) and the low plumbing bid from Heartland Mechanical for $6985 (5-0).
The materials and part of the contractor cost will be paid for by the grant. The City will look at its budget to see if they are able to contribute. In addition, the Foundation will look at contributing. Lew Roberts with the Balaton American Legion was also on hand to get more information. The council asked if the project would be something the Legion would be interested in helping with.
Roberts told the council that is why he was there, to gather information. He also added that if there was electrical added to the building, an outlet on the outside of the building would also offer more flexibility for projects such as holiday lights in the park.
Swenson will gather electrical bids and bring them to the next council meeting.
