WESTLOCK — After being vandalized several times this season the Town of Westlock is now looking to improve security at the Eastglen outdoor skating rink skate shack.
The shack suffered some minor damage mid-March and while the town did not disclose details, they have confirmed that they are looking to add additional security measures including security cameras. The rink is now closed for the year due to rising temperatures.
“We did have some instances where we had some vandalism in there,” said director of community services Gerry Murphy. “Any time we have an incident that renders our facilities not as safe as they should be, and safety can also mean in a hygienic way, we have to make sure we correct that before we open it back up to the general public.”
Murphy confirmed that it was not the first time the facility has been vandalized this year and noted at least two other instances of damage, adding they did close it those times for repairs and cleaning. While he did not want to go into detail about the recent vandalism, he did say he was in contact with the town’s parks and open spaces coordinator about the incident and also contacted local authorities.
“We did reach out to the RCMP and they did come out and have a look and gave us some suggestions,” he said, noting the building for the most part, is unsupervised in the evenings “so we do rely on the public to monitor and to be aware of what’s going on.”
The doors to the shack are locked at closing time each evening, which is usually around 9 p.m. he said, and while there were no “out of the ordinary costs” for the damage this time around, as they’re covered under the operating budget. Murphy noted they have been discussing some ideas around added security measures at the site as they previously hired someone to be on site during operating hours.
“We really want to avoid having to go back to hiring someone just to sit there and babysit the building. We‘re hoping that that’s not necessary anymore,” he said, noting that is the way it was in the past.
“We’re looking at some other measures that we can put in place, cameras is one of them and there’s also some other tools that we can use to discourage people from being in a space that they’re not supposed to be in anymore.”
