City Hires Firm to Audit Splash Pad

Traverse City commissioners voted last night to hire Wisconsin-based firm Water Technology Inc. (WTI) to perform a design audit on the William G. Milliken Waterscape in Clinch Park this winter. The $7,350 contract will help the city identify the extent of design problems in the splash pad - which suffered a mechanical failure this summer and exposed a half-dozen children to contaminated water - as it proceeds in a legal dispute process against design firm Hamilton Anderson Architects. WTI specializes in waterpark and aquatic planning and counts Cedar Point, SeaWorld and Great Wolf Lodge among its clients. The firm will be able to begin audit work immediately, but will have to wait until after the snow melts to conduct a final site inspection for its review.