Gainesville City park may be getting new gate, beefed up camera system
The Gainesville City Council is currently investigating options for installing a more permanent pipe-style gate at Hoerman Memorial Park. Currently, the park has the cable and post system pictured above, but the city hasn’t been able to find a good system of utilizing it. With continuous vandalism at the park, the city is now considering installing a more permanent pipe-style gate that will be closed at night and reopened in the morning, a duty Councilwoman Lana Bushong volunteered to handle now. The city council also approved purchasing and installing more cameras at the park to attempt to catch the vandals in action.
The city council had a lengthy discussion about park security and ways to help curb the vandalism that occurs regularly at Hoerman Memorial Park.
Mayor Gail Reich said she drove through the park at 10:20 p.m. a few nights before the meeting, and there were three adults in cars up at the park in the dark. She thought that seemed suspicious.
The city currently has a cable and post-type closure gate at the entrance of the park, and the council has asked the sheriff’s department to open and close the gate in the past – as the city pays the department a stipend each year for law enforcement coverage in the city limits. However, the cable isn’t being closed or opened regularly, so the council is now discussing other options to close it at night.
Councilwoman Lana Bushong said she thought the city should install a heftier gate and volunteered to get bids before the next meeting. She also volunteered to start opening and closing the gate herself. Fellow City Councilwoman April Lynne said the only hesitation she has with an individual being in charge of the gate is if there are people at the park at closing time, she wonders if the people will leave if an individual is telling them to versus if an officer is.
Councilwoman Treva Warrick suggested they install a sign at the entrance that says the gate will be closed during set park closed hours.
Councilman Dana Crisp said he recently went through the park, and he complimented the city staff on the lack of trash spread around. He said he would suggest that the mowing and weed eating be a little neater though. “To me, it seemed like some places were a little long. It was mowed, but not ‘park mowed,’” he said.
The city also discussed installing additional cameras at the park to have a better chance getting photographic evidence to help prosecute the vandalism. Several options were discussed. The council agreed to allow the city staff to purchase the additional cameras for installation at the park.
Lynne updated the council, saying Clerk Lisa Goodnight submitted the grant application to request rubber mulch that would be applied around playground equipment. They were unsure when they would be notified if their project was chosen to be funded, but they said they would keep the council informed when that information was received.
Goodnight also said that Chris Harlin with Century Bank of the Ozarks has shown interest in paying for and completing a project at the park. She said it was personal to him, because his parents John and Linda Harlin, were involved with some of the first grants to obtain playground equipment shortly after the park was developed. Goodnight told Harlin about the needed repairs to the park’s pavilion including new posts. Harlin asked for the city to make an itemized cost list for materials and labor for the project. The city is working to get that completed.
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Editor’s note: The bathrooms between the Hoerman Memorial Park and the track are now owned by the Gainesville School, not the city, but it’s worth noting that they’ve recently been locked. When asked about it, Superintendent Justin Gilmore said the school is currently renovating the bathrooms. The Times plans to have an article on the bathroom renovation and other school projects soon.