Rink boards, benches and the rest of the park inventory

Most municipal and community site furniture gets attention when it looks bad enough that somebody phones in. A cycle costs less than the crisis.

What is in the inventory

• Rink boards and kickplates — high impact, high visibility, short coating life.
• Benches and picnic tables — steel frames that rust at ground contact and welds.
• Bike racks, bollards and waste enclosures.
• Handrails and stair nosings, which are a safety item as well as an appearance one.
• Shelter frames and signage posts.
• Fencing and gates.

Batching is the saving

Mobilisation is a real cost. Doing the benches this year, the rink next year and the bike racks the year after means paying to set up three times. Grouping a site's inventory into one visit is substantially cheaper per item.

The winter option

Removable items — benches, racks, gates, sign panels — can come off site and be done indoors over winter, which takes them out of the summer schedule entirely.

Rink boards, benches and shelter frames across Medicine Hat, Redcliff and the Cypress County hamlets tend to get refinished together, because they weather at about the same rate and share a single shutdown window.