City Commissioners approved a $99,220 contract during their Sept. 16 meeting for the playground at Morony Park.

The contract with Garrett Parks and Play is for poured-in-place surfacing and is being funded with federal Community Development Block Grant dollars.

Commissioners approved the CDBG agreement in July.

Staff have been planning to install a new playground at Morony Park since the Natatorium was closed in 2018 and demolished in late 2023.

City approves playground purchase for Morony Park

Park and Recreation staff are planning to update the park with the ADA play system, pavilion, automated irrigation and a court resurface.

Commissioners also approved a $194,795 CDBG agreement for the playground and poured-in-place installation in July.

They approved a $92,200 contract with Grondahl Recreation for an ADA Nucleus Play System, which is currently being installed and the poured-in-place rubberized pathways will be added around the playground.

The city is holding a ribbon cutting for the new playground at 1 p.m. Sept. 25.

The playground and poured-in-place surface vendors were contracted through Sourcewell, a governmental purchasing service cooperative based in Minnesota.

Natatorium demolition project complete [2024]

The city has a Sourcewell membership to view their competitive bid contracts and can interact directly with awarded vendors to facilitate a purchase, allowing the city to work with the Sourcewell contract manager to verify pricing, answer contract questions or any other questions that may arise.

Morony Park is centrally located and one of the few city parks with designated off street parking and staff pursued an ADA accessible play structure that was eligible for CDBG funding since the park is within a low to moderate income area as designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Natatorium demolition underway [2024]

Morony Park is located at 111 12th St. N. and is part of the site where the Natatorium was previously located.

The land was part of a land exchange with the Great Falls Water and Power Townsite Company in 1910 with a deed restriction that it must be used for “park purposes.” If the city stops using the land as a park, the deed states that it reverts back to the grantor, according to the city.

The Natatorium that was demolished in 2023 was the second indoor public pool built on the property.

City approves contract update for Natatorium demolition [2023]

The first was recommended for closure in October 1963 due to structural deficiencies and the reporting engineer advised at the time that the facility “be abandoned and not used for the public” due to significant settling throughout the building, according to the city, that caused walls to shift, the pool to leak and the foundation to crack.

The second Natatorium was built in 1966 and dedicated in 1967, meeting a similar fate of the first pool with structural problems, settling and leaking.

Citizens ask to save Natatorium; city plan remains closure by Dec. 31 [2018]

There was already a basketball court at the park and staff is planning to resurface that court in the future, as well as add a pavilion and automated irrigation to repurpose the land into a new neighborhood park.

*Great Falls Park and Recreation photo