Matthew
01-11-2008, 09:25 AM
Initial efforts to provide supervision and encourage proper behavior at a skate park on the El Dorado County Fairgrounds have been thwarted by vandalism and a failed recruitment.
A management plan approved by the Board of Supervisors in August is intended to implement ordinances adopted by the board and Placerville City Council requiring park users to wear safety gear and adhere to specific rules of conduct.
The first step was to post the rules at the park, but Jordan Postlewait of the county's General Services Department said vandals destroyed the signs.
Postlewait updated the board Tuesday on a six-month pilot program for park management that also called for hiring an on-site manager. He said the first recruitment effort failed, and new candidates await interviews.
Signs will not be reinstalled until someone is there to oversee park activities, Postlewait said.
The skate park was built on county-owned property in 2003 with funds raised by the Placerville Rotary Club. The club indicated, however, that it would not be responsible of operating the park.
Park activities have been largely unsupervised, and county officials said the lack of oversight resulted in unsafe behavior by park users. Illegal activities, including vandalism and drug use, also were reported in the park and adjoining parking lot.
"Until we have someone there to baby sit, or to manage, it's not going to work," Supervisor Jack Sweeney said in reviewing skate park operations Tuesday.
Sweeney pushed last summer for adoption of county and city skate park ordinances to make it easier for sheriff's deputies and police officers to deal with park users who violate the rules.
Laura Gill, county chief administrative officer, said the Placerville Police Department has provided extra patrol at the skate park. But some board members said they would like the city to do more to help oversee activities at the park.
Sweeney said he agreed that the city's Parks and Recreation Department was better equipped to manage such a facility than the county is. But, he said, "The city has steadfastly held that it doesn't want to be a part of this, as has the fair."
Sweeney said the Board of Supervisors was pressured into allowing the skate park to be built on county property and now must either manage it or close it.
Supervisor Helen Baumann took exception to Sweeney's suggestion that county officials were coerced into allowing the skate park. "It was the dream of a lot of people in the community for a very long time," she said, adding that the project attracted a large number of community donations.
But Baumann said, "It does disappoint me greatly that (the park) has been abused to the extent that it has."
Postlewait said building improvements are needed at the skate park. The Rotary Club has agreed to finance the materials, but not the labor, he said.
Postlewait said funds are not available to improve drainage at the site, and recent storms left mud in a couple of the skate park "bowls".
Supervisors and staff members agreed that an on-site manager is key to improving conditions at the park.
"We need to get the recruitment completed to see if we can find somebody to hire," Gill said.
A management plan approved by the Board of Supervisors in August is intended to implement ordinances adopted by the board and Placerville City Council requiring park users to wear safety gear and adhere to specific rules of conduct.
The first step was to post the rules at the park, but Jordan Postlewait of the county's General Services Department said vandals destroyed the signs.
Postlewait updated the board Tuesday on a six-month pilot program for park management that also called for hiring an on-site manager. He said the first recruitment effort failed, and new candidates await interviews.
Signs will not be reinstalled until someone is there to oversee park activities, Postlewait said.
The skate park was built on county-owned property in 2003 with funds raised by the Placerville Rotary Club. The club indicated, however, that it would not be responsible of operating the park.
Park activities have been largely unsupervised, and county officials said the lack of oversight resulted in unsafe behavior by park users. Illegal activities, including vandalism and drug use, also were reported in the park and adjoining parking lot.
"Until we have someone there to baby sit, or to manage, it's not going to work," Supervisor Jack Sweeney said in reviewing skate park operations Tuesday.
Sweeney pushed last summer for adoption of county and city skate park ordinances to make it easier for sheriff's deputies and police officers to deal with park users who violate the rules.
Laura Gill, county chief administrative officer, said the Placerville Police Department has provided extra patrol at the skate park. But some board members said they would like the city to do more to help oversee activities at the park.
Sweeney said he agreed that the city's Parks and Recreation Department was better equipped to manage such a facility than the county is. But, he said, "The city has steadfastly held that it doesn't want to be a part of this, as has the fair."
Sweeney said the Board of Supervisors was pressured into allowing the skate park to be built on county property and now must either manage it or close it.
Supervisor Helen Baumann took exception to Sweeney's suggestion that county officials were coerced into allowing the skate park. "It was the dream of a lot of people in the community for a very long time," she said, adding that the project attracted a large number of community donations.
But Baumann said, "It does disappoint me greatly that (the park) has been abused to the extent that it has."
Postlewait said building improvements are needed at the skate park. The Rotary Club has agreed to finance the materials, but not the labor, he said.
Postlewait said funds are not available to improve drainage at the site, and recent storms left mud in a couple of the skate park "bowls".
Supervisors and staff members agreed that an on-site manager is key to improving conditions at the park.
"We need to get the recruitment completed to see if we can find somebody to hire," Gill said.