Vandals recently damaged the men’s, pictured, and women’s restrooms at Fair Oak Community Park in Monroe Township.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

Monroe Township officials are taking action after the men’s and women’s restrooms at Fair Oak Community Park were struck by vandals on Aug. 29.

The unknown culprits smashed the porcelain sink off of the wall in the men’s restroom and plastered the walls of the women’s restroom with wet toilet paper.

“It’s sad,” said Tom Wildey, director of services for the township.

As a result of the incident, the men’s restroom will be closed indefinitely, and the women’s restroom will be converted into a unisex restroom.

“When you destroy something that is a necessary item, it’s hard not to notice; it’s a major inconvenience to the folks that use the park, and the sad thing is that it’s the action of probably just one or two individuals that will impact all the good people in the community.”

The township is purchasing two signs that will be posted at the park’s two shelter houses, letting visitors know that the area is a “crime free and drug free zone.”

“Putting a sign up doesn’t fix all our problems, but at least whomever is doing this will see that we have a passion to keep our parks safe and maintained,” Wildey said.

Representatives from the township plan to get together with officials from the Clermont County Park District to strategize a plan to deter future incidents.

“Vandalism takes place in all parts; it’s not uncommon, and we’re not unique,” Wildey said. “We’d like to form a committee to talk about ways to make the equipment so hard to vandalize that they won’t do it.”

He added, “Two heads are better than one.”

Wildey went on to explain that the township has invested a lot of time and money into the park, located on Fair Oak Road, over the years.

“We’ve spent upwards of $300,000,” he said.

The property, which was previously a shooting range, came into the township’s possession in the 1980s, when it was donated by a local civic club.

The township quickly got to work, utilizing a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the site, which had a lot of residual lead in the soil from bullets that were left on the ground.

Later, a 1/3 mile walking trail was put in, as well as “really nice” restrooms, according to Wildey.

“We started out with hot and cold faucets in the bathrooms, but people would bathe in there and let the water run and flood the place,” he said. “We finally wound up putting in push button faucets with only cold water.”

As a long-term solution to vandalism issues, township officials are contemplating installing stainless steel sinks, which could cost anywhere from $250 to $500.

“Something you can’t tear off from the wall,” Trustee Tom Peck noted.

Trustee Darlene Jowers doesn’t think it’s fair to the taxpayers to waste their money continually fixing the bathrooms.

“It’s not a first time problem,” she said. “This has been years and years and years.”

Another solution being considered is to permanently close the restrooms.

“We’re thinking about putting in portable toilets instead,” Wildey said.

While the park, which opens at dawn and closes at dusk, does have locking capabilities, Wildey explained that “money constraints” keep the township from assigning opening and closing duties to staff.

“It would add a huge cost to have someone take care of that every day,” Wildey said.

He added, “If we could find a park neighbor or member of the community that would be willing to take on that responsibility, it would be a huge help.”