During the Demorest special called meeting Wednesday evening, City Manager Mark Musselwhite announced that the gym had been vandalized.
The damage was minimal but damage was done nonetheless that will have to be paid for out of taxpayers pockets. The damage was to two basketball goals. One of the hoops was bent and one of the hoops had been broken off from the goal.
Musselwhite announced during the meeting that Police Chief Robin Krockum had pulled the video for the gymnasium. He stated that the incident occurred Tuesday evening at approximately 8:09 p.m.
Musselwhite explained to the council that the video revealed that about 7 or 8 kids, mostly teenagers, were accompanied by two adults when the vandalism occurred. The video resolution was good enough to tell who the individuals were but staff did not recognize anyone in the video. The city would be contacting school resource officers on Thursday to assist in identifying the vandals.
Mayor Jerry Harkness stated, “This is a public use facility. We need to take care of it, make sure we can continue to use it.” He added, “Repairs, vandalism are not budgeted line items.”
Chief Krockum recommended that a camera be placed outside in an effort to capture license plates on vehicles parked outside. Musselwhite replied that he was already working on that.
