By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Ortonville-

Village councilmembers expressed surprise at their Monday meeting at Brandon Recreation Director Fred Waybrant’s announcement earlier this month that he would be managing the Village Skate Park.

It seems a communication breakdown occurred between the council, Waybrant, and Village Manager David Trent, who had also previously confirmed to The Citizen that Waybrant would take over skate park operations, but the confusion continues. The council said they would only approve Waybrant running the first session, planned for May 8-June 2 at the Skate Park if he should get at least 10 registered participants. What will happen to the remaining five sessions is up in the air.

Council President Wayne Wills suggested the Skate Park “had run its course,” and stated he was against the park in the past and was still against it, citing complaints from neighbors.

Councilmember Mark Butzu said he didn’t approve of the Skate Park. Councilmember Dan Eschmann said the village should be managing the park.

On Tuesday, however, Waybrant questioned the village making any determination on his plans for recreation programs.

“We are going forward with the sessions,” he said. “They own the land and we own the skate park. We need to give it a chance.”

The Skate Park opened in 2005 after Waybrant orchestrated fundraisers, donations and in-kind services to put in place roughly $100,000 worth of equipment on land owned by the village at Cedar and Ball streets. The park was a hit with kids for several years after it opened, but drew the wrath of neighbors frustrated by noise, vandalism, littering, profanity and alleged drug use at the facility.

Village officials responded by hiring a monitor, and incorporating a user registration fee and policy, which resolved most issues, but park usage fell and it was closed all of last year and part of 2015 due to a lack of registrations.

Under the new recreation program, which Waybrant said was approved by the council in the fall of 2016, skate park participants must be 15 and under; are allowed to bring skateboards, bicycles, and in-line skates to use at the facility, but no scooters; and to gain admittance to the park, must register and purchase a $20 punch card at the recreation office located at 395 Mill Street in the village. The park will be open from 3-6 p.m. Monday through Friday for registered participants and closed on Saturday and Sunday.

“The Skate Park has been approved for the first session if there are enough participants,” said Trent. “I have advised Fred if there is ongoing interest, he should plan to submit that to the council for approval on a month-to-month basis. The village council has ultimate responsibility for the skate park and is working in concert with parks and rec to provide programming for this year. Fred may have 20 people who want to participate in the July session. As of right now, council has only approved the May session. It’s a gray area for the rest of the sessions.”

As of Tuesday, Waybrant had only two sign-ups for his planned first session, which he attributed possibly to kids still being in school for that session, but said he had received several inquiries and flyers had just been distributed to homerooms at both elementaries, the intermediate school, and the middle school.

“I hired a good instructor that will teach kids how to skateboard and we are ready to go,” said Waybrant. “As director, I want to see kids who like to do that kind of thing have a place to go. We are going back to making it a kid thing, with someone able to teach along with monitoring the facility.”

The deadline to sign-up for the May 8-June 2 session is 5 p.m., May 5. Without 10 registrations, the session won’t run. He planned subsequent sessions for every month through the beginning of November.

For more information, call 248-627-4640 or email brandonrec@brandontownship.us.