Washrooms closed due to vandalism set to reopen with new rules, cameras to come

By Sharon Harrison
The washrooms at both the skatepark/splashpad area (375 Picton Main Street) and at Benson Park (56 King Street) are expected to reopen on Saturday, June 28.

The washrooms were closed since June 11 to complete repairs due to acts of vandalism.

In hopes to reduce vandalism, the municipality will be limiting the washroom hours to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The municipality is also preparing to install security cameras in both locations later this summer.

During a council and staff working session on the asset management plan earlier this month, discussion turned to parks and recreation assets. Mayor Steve Ferguson addressed vandalism that has occurred in the past 30 days in several park locations. He specifically spoke to the use of cameras where he asked Lisa Lindsay, director of recreation and community facilities, how cameras would fit into the planning process.

Lindsay stated it was “certainly disheartening every year when staff are out trying to get parks ready” and noted some parks require daily attention while others are twice weekly, or at the more rural locations, once weekly.

“The cameras were in the budget and we’ve spent some time trying to have antiquated equipment work with our new network. We have realized now that is not the best option for the municipality financially. It’s a better option to move with newer technology that will be more cost effective. You are going to see that come forward very, very soon.

“We are right now working with the police more readily than we’ve had to in a few years. We have been so actively involved with the police over a series of years to be a part of drive-by routes and that’s what we are embarking on right now, as well as having as many staff as possible always checking in on some of our key areas.

She also spoke to engaging community involvement in more spaces, so that vandalism is less frequent.

“We had an awesome splash pad committee. They were committed and they were a part of the splash pad project and we had more people engaged and more people present and it seemed as though it was a deterrent, there was just more activity there. We don’t have that at the moment in some areas, so we are trying to build those relationships, or just trying to have greater eyes and work with the police until the cameras are involved. ”

“But we have been very fortunate in two of the instances to have some footage and some sightings, and we are also hoping some public shaming will maybe have people recognize who these individuals are which is why we have moved back to putting out our PSAs on vandalism when there is a service disruption.

Ferguson noted “It’s just a shame that the asset management plan has to consider protection of our assets.”

Lindsay agreed “It’s really terrible.”

Councillor Roy Pennell suggested some of the washrooms do not need to be open 24/7.

Lindsay noted there is an electric door locking system but “we were heavily ridiculed for diminishing the service that we provided, so we just try to have a fresh approach every year that we are dealing with the best possible humans who care about our assets. We try to provide full service and be out there, and as we start to crawl it back, we have our justification as to why we have to do that. So we are going to be changing the hours.

“But it doesn’t matter what hours it is, it’s going to upset somebody and there is always the slight chance of failure, when there is a power outage somewhere or something and the doors can just lock.

“And people do strange things in there to even play with the electronic door systems, but we are now going to be having to be putting that in place… We start with fresh eyes every year and just hope that we can have a community that’s going to be respectful of all our assets, but there is that small per cent that aren’t able to do that.”