ELKINS — A representative from the town of Montrose came before the Randolph County Commission at its regular meeting on Thursday seeking help for additional funding for a playground project. 

Montrose City Recorder Sharon Bedford gave an informational presentation to Commissioners David Kesling, Cris Siler and Chris See and provided the RCC with a funding request.

“I was here in late 2023 and presented you with a Phase 1 and Phase 2 plan to update the City Park in Montrose,” Bedford said. “We have finished Phase 1 and have made some adjustments in what we had planned to purchase.

“We planned to buy three boulders for the park, but because of the price increase, we decided to do just one and purchase a small rock wall. We would still like to get the medium and larger boulders for the park, but because of pricing I don’t know if we can.”

Phase 1 of the project was getting the project off the ground and making sure everything was in order for construction to begin.

“We are ready now to proceed with the rest of Phase 2,” said Bedford. “The issue we are having  is the raised costs. Our income annually is less than $40,000, but we have managed to scrounge around and save $50,000 toward the purchase of these last two items.”

Bedford said that because the price of the other two boulders have gone up so much since the start of the project back in 2023, that the city may be forced to purchase just one for the park, which will feature new items added to the existing playground, plus the boulder park and wall.

“We have volunteers, we may not have expertise that we need, but we have laborers,” said Bedford. “No one is shy in Montrose about chipping in and helping out. One of our councilmen does our maintenance for free at both of our buildings…

“We were just wanting to see if there was any way you could help us out with this project. We would greatly appreciate it and we want to thank you for all that you’ve already done.”

Back in 2023, the Randolph County Commission agreed to a funding request with the town of Montrose for $20,000 to help with the project.

“We’ve had cake walks and many other things in an attempt to raise money,” Bedford said. “We’ve done everything we can do.”

Commission President Davis Kesling said he wanted Bedford to come in and talk to the Commission before they made a decision on her funding request.

“We’ve looked at this dollar amount on your letter and we are going to take this back and see what we can do,” said Kesling. “We will then bring it back at our next meeting. We just needed to hear from you and find out what was going on.”

Bedford said children in the community have also been asking for the town to expand and resurface the basketball court surface at the park.

“It’s nowhere near standard size and they want something where they can play basketball,” she said. “We recently put a zip line in at the park and that has been a big attraction for us, I can’t believe how many kids have been coming out just for that.”

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The County Commission approved a funding request from the Seneca Soccer League during the meeting.

“They have over 200 kids signed up to participate this year and they are looking for help to continue to provide for the kids,” Kesling said. “They are looking to get some new goals, benches, a lawn mower and several other items. I think the total was like $19,000 for all they needed.”

The Commission agreed to provide the league with $5,000. The money will be taken from the county budget’s hotel/motel tax line item.