Coaldale borough will get its long-awaited playground equipment.

After several years of fundraising by a local nonprofit, borough council decided on Tuesday to purchase a playground for children ages 5-12.Council voted unanimously to purchase a "Liberty Bell" model playground from PlaygroundDepot.com, at a cost of $18,825.Plans to install the playground are still to be determined.The playground includes multiple slides and climbing elements, and is handicap accessible."I feel like it's a dream. We've been looking at equipment for years," councilwoman Yvonne Stoffey said.The nonprofit Coaldale Church Home Organization School Environment sold antique bottles donated by a local historian and held other fundraisers to try to purchase the equipment. Two council members, Stoffey and President Angela Krapf, are both on the CHOSE board.But Councilwoman Claire Remington said that during a recent visit to the borough's complex park, she determined that the only way it would happen is if council stepped up."I realized, they're never going to get money for playground equipment here. It's $50 here, $100 here. Nobody else has given them $5 even, the borough, we have to step up," Remington said.Council put $5,000 in its 2017 budget for recreation purposes. That money will serve as a down payment with the borough making $300 per month payments until the equipment is paid off.Krapf said that CHOSE will apply the money they have raised to recreation projects in the borough.That could be the playground, or the renovation of the town's basketball court, also located at the complex.Remington said the children of the borough deserve quality playground equipment."If we don't do it, we're never going to have anything. it isn't fair to the kids that are there, who do enjoy it," she said.