MEDINA, Ohio — Medina Police are still looking for the suspect or suspects involved in Friday’s vandalism at Reagan Park.
According to an email from Medina’s Parks Foreman, Kurt Gehring, one or two cars drove around a gate to a closed-off portion of the park, which he said is not open to vehicle traffic in the winter to avoid situations like this.
"The thing I would like to share most with the community is to speak up when they see something out of the ordinary. Any vandalism that occurs in any park has costs associated,” stated Gehring in an email response.
Gehring said that the field will now be temporarily out of service, and it will have a ripple effect that could cause potential delays or cancellations in the spring youth sports season.
"The 5–7-year-olds on those teams are the ones that are going to be hurt the most,” stated Gehring in an email response. “Even without tire damage, bringing the fields back into shape in the spring is no small task. While we are addressing this issue, we are diverting resources from other scheduled maintenance areas/ sports fields.”
At this time, Gehring was not able to give News 5 an estimated damage cost because he said a portion of the field is still covered in snow and frozen solid.
He said the city will have to wait until the area thaws out to see how the ground will react to their repair efforts and equipment.
Based on staff time, materials and machinery, Gehring said it will cost anywhere between $1,000 and $1,500 to take care of flattening tire ruts and overseeding in the spring.
"As a best-case scenario, we will have the fields in shape by the end of April. Depending on how wet (of) a spring we have, that may be pushed to the middle of May. If our efforts to flatten the ruts don’t work out as planned, we will need to bring in topsoil to level the field and reseed the area. This will double the cost of the project. In order for the new grass to establish, the field (will be) out of service until July,” stated Gehring in an email response.
Gehring said two other areas in Reagan Park faced a little bit of damage when he said someone purposely drove off the road.
But he said those drivers stayed in the areas adjacent to the roads and did not drive onto any sports fields.
As authorities work to find those responsible, anyone with information is encouraged to contact Medina Police at 330-725-7777.
