JAY – A Jay mother asked selectmen Monday if the town would seed an area of playground after tar is removed. Children are being hurt on the Elementary School playground, including, Rae-Ellen Roy’s son, who received a concussion.

The Jay Parent Teacher Organization is having playground safety issues, Roy said. About 90 percent of the playground is tar, Roy said.

There have been some “pretty, serious injuries,” Roy said.

There is no money in the Jay School budget for removing a 30- by 50-foot swath of tar, loaming it and seeding it, she said.

International Paper has agreed to remove the tar and haul it away, Roy said, and resident Kimball Farrington has agreed to bring in loam and spread it.

Turning the area into grass, Roy said, would give the children a decent, soft, safe playground.

A swath of tar would need to be kept, she said, so that a firetruck would be able to get to the back of the school.

Selectman and Rep. Ray Pineau, D-Jay, said that playground safety is an issue being discussed at the state Legislature.

He asked Roy about putting down a material called pebble tar that is made from chewed up tires without any belts.

Roy said the expense to put rubber matting there is not in the organization’s budget.

Town highway foreman John Johnson said it wouldn’t cost the town much to do the seeding.

But Johnson said having the area grassed would cause difficulty for plowing. There might need to be snow removal done there in the future and could cost the town more money, he said, in that area.

Roy also told selectmen that Boy Scout Troop 199 would be working on the area to maintain it.

Selectman Rick Simoneau questioned Roy about the basketball hoops at the playground.

“We’re not going to eliminate the basketball hoops,” she said, but the organization is talking about moving them.

“We don’t want to take anything away from the teenagers and the kids that come there but we also have to protect our children,” Roy said.

There is $18,000 in the recreation reserve account, Town Manager Ruth Marden said.

Selectmen’s Chairman Bill Harlow asked Roy to bring the playground issue up to the Jay School Committee and to bring back a plan so selectmen can see exactly what is being requested.

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