ABOVE: One of the larger holes on the surface of the Adventure Playground at Gomsrud Park in Fairmont. The park will be closed for several days next week while the surface is redone.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Park Board heard some news regarding the surface of the Adventure Playground at Gomsrud Park during its meeting on Tuesday.

Street and Park Superintendent Nick Lardy said that the company that originally did the work will be resurfacing the whole park. This is because the surface has been crumbling and falling apart.

“They’re going to start on Sept. 27, possibly. We’ll have to put up fencing around it because people need to stay off of it for 72 hours after the new surface is applied,” Lardy said.

It was said that Board Member Jodie Whitmore reached out to the company, Surface America, to share concerns about the surface. Whitmore said that the company is standing by its work and is going to resurface the park at no cost.

“We’re very excited about that,” Whitmore said.

Moving to new business, the board discussed a portable deterrent system. Lardy said that the company had reached out to him awhile back and on Tuesday he provided information on it to the board.

He said the “flash cam” system is a steel box and is meant to hang on a pole and can detect people up to 100 ft. and vehicles up to 150 ft. It has a flash and will take a photo at the same time and can also be programed to supply a recoded message, such as “the park is closed.”

“The bigger cities have them. They’re not cheap; they’re about $8,500 a piece,” Lardy said.

“But how much have we spent on redoing bathrooms?”said Whitmore.

Lardy said he just started looking into the product, which acts as a security system, and is really designed and engineered for park and city facilities. He said it does not require power or WiFi and is a stand-alone unit which runs off of solar power.

Board Member Craig Nelson said that while he’s not a fan of cameras, he thought they could try using one at Ward Park first.

“I definitely think Ward Park and Veterans Park are a candidate for it,” Nelson said.

Public Works Director Matthew York asked what the goal was for using a product like this. He questioned whether someone would end up stealing the system.

“Do we want to stop people from destroying bathrooms in the nighttime?” York asked.

Lardy said that at Ward Park people have gotten up on the roof and torn the shingles off. It was pointed out that since it’s somewhat hidden and difficult to see activity from the street at night.

Nelson asked Lardy how many picnic tables from Ward Park have ended up in the lake this year. Lardy said six.

“And nobody has been caught for anything at Ward Park that I know of,” Nelson said.

York suggested they brainstorm some lower cost solutions over the winter months and reassess the situation next spring.

In his report to the board, Lardy said that his crew has been working on putting up the shade structures at Winnebago Avenue Sports Complex and that after that they will work on putting them up at the Fairmont Soccer Complex.

“Hopefully the roof work at Sylvania Park Bandshell will get going soon,” Lardy said.

He also said that parks will close for the season on Oct. 15.

Looking forward to the coming months, Lardy said, “We’ve got 200 tons of salt in for the streets and 1,000 tons of sand. We’re getting ready.”

The board has no plans to meet in October unless something comes up which it needs to discuss. As it meets seasonally, the board will not meet again until April.