The City of Cranbrook is taking steps reduce youth incidents at the Western Financial Place.
City staff say there have been repeated issues with local youth conducting inappropriate behavior on site.
Recreation and Culture director Trevor Thors says that includes incidents with drugs and alcohol with intoxicated youth passing out or entering the facility under the influence.
Tables, murals and washrooms have been vandalized and youth have been causing other disturbances with horseplay, vaping, smoking, yelling, swearing and inappropriate affection.
The city has contracted security services at a cost of $70,000 a year to get a handle on the situation.
Tables and chairs have also been removed from the gazebo and inside the facility to deter unwanted groups.
City staff say the furniture pieces had become unsafe over years of use, abuse and vandalism.
“The goal of these changes is to improve the landscape of Western Financial Place to bring the facility back to a much more enjoyable and safe space for our patrons and employees to be able to enjoy the rec facilities,” said Thors.
“Our staff regularly act as security to deal with many of these issues, which creates both an unsafe environment for our staff, and takes away their ability to focus on the important work they should be doing day-to-day.”
He says they are also taking some other steps to stop loitering and working with the school district to get kids back in class.
“Aside from the removal of public Wi-Fi to deter the youth loitering inside and outside the building, we are working with the School District to help get youth back to class, and working to have the RCMP patrol the facility on a regular basis,” said Thors.
“We need to get back to a place where parents with small children, patrons coming to Western Financial Place for classes and programming, and our staff can all have full access to our facility without feeling intimidated.”
The city will also be looking at updating bylaws for loitering.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyEastKootenayNow News Alerts.
