St. Ignatius skate park center of town council debate
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
ST. IGNATIUS — The St. Ignatius Town Council is split in opinion about whether or not there should be more stringent requirements for using the town’s skate park.
In an Oct. 7 town council meeting, Councilmember Roger Lemon suggested implementing enhanced safety measures for the town’s skate park because of liability issues, eyesore concerns, and ongoing problems with unruly teen behavior in town.
“I think that we have an awful liability hanging over our head there,” Lemon said. “Kids are just running amok down there. If one of them gets seriously injured we’re going to be hooked for it.”
Lemon has been critical of the skate park in recent months because he believes it has become an eyesore. Public Works Director Scott Morton said he regularly has to remove debris and trash brought in by skaters, and that those using the park are not giving it proper care. He added that teens often skate unsupervised and without safety gear, despite previous promises by townspeople to supervise.
Morton said he is frustrated with the state of the skate park, but that he doesn’t believe Lemon’s suggestions of fencing it, locking it up, requiring safety gear, or tearing the structure out of the ground are viable options.
“You can’t fence it because then you are looking for trouble,” Morton said. “Then little kids become trapped by the bigger kids. You can’t have that - you have to have a way out.”
Morton said the skate park’s layout is not that different from that of other towns’ similar facilities, but the attitude of the public in its upkeep is substantially different.
“I was in Seattle over the weekend and in a matter of two hours I drove by seven skate parks,” Morton said. “Every one is just like we have, except that the people care about it and keep it clean.”
Councilmember Annie Morigeau agreed that Lemon’s suggestions likely would not deter the problems at the skate park.
“The thing with a fence is that if they want to get in, they are going to get in,” Morigeau said. “They will cut holes in it or whatever.”
Morigeau said that children using the park should use safety gear, but pointed out that kids also skateboard and ride bikes down Main Street without any similar safety requirements. Morigeau, who works for the town’s ambulance service, said she remembers only one emergency call made from the park since it was completed in 2007.
City Councilmember Daren Incashola said he believes keeping the park open gives kids a place to go for recreation and helps deter bad behavior in teens.
“We keep talking about kids getting in trouble,” Incashola said. “You can’t keep taking stuff away and expect them to stay out of trouble.”
Kristie Nerby, who was project manager for the skate park’s construction, said she has not heard any complaints or concerns from Lemon about the park.
Nerby explained that many of the safety measures Lemon would put in place were decided against years ago due to further stipulations the town’s insurance company would have required.
Fencing the park would mean a staffer would have to be on duty watching it when it was open for liability purposes, Nerby said. The town’s insurance agency also put the kabosh on requiring safety gear, which threw a major wrench into project’s construction because Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament had promised to donate $10,000 to the cause if the park required safety gear. Ament eventually ended up donating the funds because he realized there was nothing the project coordinators could do about the insurance company’s requirements.
“That council that was back there in 2006, 2007 was very good in vetting this project,” Nerby said. “I have 100 percent confidence that this project was vetted. The liability - the town does not pay one cent extra for the insurance policy because of the skate park.”
Nerby said the garbage problem Lemon takes issue with could be resolved by hiring a person to maintain the parks.
“There’s a $10,000 maintenance fund,” Nerby said. “Why don’t we take that money and hire a maintenance person for that park, and the other parks?”
Nerby said the skate community in Western Montana has helped take good care of the infrastructure of the park’s concrete. In mid-September, the skate park’s internationally-reknown designer came with a team and donated his time to apply a sealant to the concrete.
“We can get bogged down in the fact that there is trash, but there is a bigger picture in this story about (what) a big success this park has been,” Nerby said. “The trash problem is not going to go away, but I think it is a pretty solvable problem.”
The town council took no action on implementing safety requirements for the skate park. Morton gives a report on the skate park at every town council meeting, which takes place the first Tuesday of every month.
