The fountain seen at Sanborn park right off of I-40 has been removed.
Parks and Recreation Director Rod Tweet says the city had to take it down because it was inoperable and was leading to some safety concerns for park visitors.
“Over time the decay, obviously recent vandalism to that structure has caused us to remove the structure temporarily due to safety concerns,” said Tweet.
We have received messages at the station from viewers wanting to know why it was taken down and Tweet says he has too.
Tweet tells us there has been some confusion about the removal of the fountain because some people believed it was a historical landmark.
“The fountain that was removed was not the original fountain was not the original fountain that was placed in the park when it was established in 1916. The fountain that was removed was actually a fiberglass similar replica of the original fountain that was in there and that fiberglass was put in, in the early 90’s,” added Tweet.
The city is hoping to replace the fountain eventually.
He says they are looking at different options to rebuild one and would hope to maybe even bring back some of the historical value.
“We are looking at some options, mostly construction material as to we can come back to replace that to bring that back to the future. Once we identify those options then certainly funding will become an issue,” said Tweet.
Tweet says they will calculate a cost to see if and when a replacement fountain can be put back in the park.
