TOLEDO, Ohio —
The splash pad at the Rev. H.V. Savage Park is still dry.
City leaders, including council member Cerssandra McPherson, gathered at the central Toledo park on Tuesday to discuss the issues. The splash pad has been closed due to not being in compliance with Makenna's Law. The law was enacted in April of 2023 to change the maximum water velocity out of nozzles of water fixtures.
McPherson said the city knew the splash pad, which is over 20 years old, was not in compliance with Makenna's Law and failed to act on it before pools and splash pads reopened for the summer.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department inspected the Savage Park splash pad in May of 2023, where it was reported the pad was in violation of the law.
In the report, TLCHD said an engineer should be consulted, if necessary, and a report should be made back to the health department in 30 days.
A second inspection was done in June with the same findings and a third one in July.
From then until now, McPherson said nothing has changed. She said she was unaware of the issue until last week when she started getting complaints about the pad not being open.
"I have been investigating, asking the questions and getting briefed upon how we let this happen," she said.
Joe Fausnaugh, Toledo's director of parks and youth services, said the city has tried multiple solutions.
"To this point, every solution we have tried either lowers the pressure so much that the spray features won’t work or creates additional operational issues for the existing plumbing," he said. "We should have been more prepared and I take responsibility for that. Please know that my staff and I care deeply about making this right."
An engineer has been called out to see if the park can be adjusted to be in compliance, according to McPherson, which is something community members were told was supposed to happen last week.
"There is no acceptable excuse," said Bishop Talmadge Thomas of the City of Zion Church said. "An explanation to me is a glorified excuse and we're getting excuse after excuse as to why."
Talmadge said community members have told him they are upset with the lack of action.
"The sentiment of this community is here we go again," he said. "We're always the last. We're always the least. We're always the left out, but everybody else will get what they need before us."
As of right now, there is no timeline for when the splash pad will be up and running.
McPherson said money will not be an issue for whatever work needs to be done to the pad.
Fausnaugh released a video statement, which can be watched below: