FULTON – At last night’s Common Council meeting, Tuesday, August 3, residents and city employees discussed North Bay Campgrounds and concerns that have risen due to an incident on Monday, July 26, when a camper was arrested after a standoff with police.
Regular campers expressed their concerns with safety at the campgrounds. Stacy Raponi spoke to see what seasonal campers can do to be included in the decisions being made by the campgrounds.
“Where we go from here determines the success of North Bay Campgrounds,” Raponi said.
She requested an application for tenters and non-seasonal campers, including a name and address. She said a few days after the events on July 26, the manager told campers the campgrounds would now take copies of IDs, which is something she believes should have already been happening.
She also requested campers to disclose a list of animals they will be bringing in.
“We’re allowing homeless and drug addicts into our campgrounds,” Raponi said. “This is a city-owned park, we have access to our own Fulton Police Department. Can we link systems? Can we scan licenses? Can we shoot the officer behind the desk a call?… We save lives just by asking a few extra questions from people coming in; we don’t know who they are.”
Raponi said she is requesting a formal meeting with the director, the manager and all seasonal campers. She listed the following concerns: bath houses in shambles, incorrectly spelled ‘Out of Order’ signs, one garbage dumpster, and no recycling.
She offered her services to help fix up the campgrounds and said she would be willing to bid on the campgrounds if the city were to sell it.
Another resident added on to Raponi’s comments, saying there are many ways to increase revenue at the campgrounds to improve it – renting canoes, dog daycare, food trucks, improve the beach area to rent out, expand the property to put in more sites, and put in cabins to rent out.
Seasonal camper William Allen then spoke on his concerns. These included pulling campers at the end of the season, electrical issues, flooding issues, potholes, and no ventilation in bathrooms.
Lastly for public comment, Raponi’s husband, Kevin Raponi, spoke. He requested the council to make their commitment to the campgrounds clear. He expressed his concerns with safety and suggested putting in gates with ID scanners. He said his children found people sleeping in the woods. He also said in regards to the city walkway, he believes since golf carts are not allowed on the trail, there are more people tenting in that area due to less traffic.
Department heads, who gave reports on what is going on in their departments right now, responded to these comments. (Their full reports will be included in a separate article to be posted later today.)
Police Chief Craig Westbrook: “While I understand your concern, it could be a safety hazard, we don’t know who’s there, that is unfortunately not unique to North Bay… The drug problem, the crime problem, the lack of accountability, bail reform. We now have a homeless population that we didn’t have before. We would deal with people that were homeless on the fact that he was sleeping on his couch tonight, your couch tomorrow. We literally have people sleeping in tents in the woods.”
Stacy Raponi said from the audience that campers were told at the beginning of the season they would likely see police officers on bicycles doing patrols often, but have yet to see any.
Westbrook said the department does not have a dedicated bike patrol due to staffing, although they do have bikes that go out for events. He said an officer should be making frequent trips through the campgrounds, and will aim for more patrols at North Bay.
Parks and Recreation Director Chris Waldron: Said Parks and Rec has put in a small children’s library at the campgrounds and rolled over $3,000 of the budget for plumbing in the restrooms at North Bay. In regards to the July 26 incident, he thanked his staff for calling campers to notify them and locking down the camp office, and thanked police for their professionalism and patience during their response to the situation.
“For the campgrounds tonight, there’s a lot of good feedback,” Waldron said. “I’m there five days a week once a day, because I knew when I took this job that keeping the campgrounds managed well, keeping peace down there with people, was important for my job. This isn’t something I can have solved in the first 10 months of being on the job. Especially when we didn’t have budget cuts this year, but I think it was important for us to try to do more with less than put it back on the taxpayers who may have had financial hardships during the COVID year.”
Waldron said improvements to the campgrounds will be done in phases. In regards to tents along the trail, he reminded people that any removal of homeless people’s property is larceny and one could face charges. In response to Kevin Raponi’s comment on golf carts on the trail, Waldron said there is a risk when golf carts are allowed on a trail where people walk. He said doing so would be in violation of Fulton city code Chapter 613.
New Fire Department Chief Adam Howard: Along with the North Bay discussion, said the fire department uses the medication Naloxone, which treats a narcotic overdose in an emergency.
Mayor Deana Michaels (during Councilor Comments): Said when she came on as mayor, she also had to run the Parks and Recreation department, which includes North Bay Campgrounds, because the director at the time had retired and the city did not have the funds to replace him at that time. She listed examples of situations they have had to react to.
“The problems down there are mind blowing to me,” Michaels said. “Every time we turn around it’s another problem at North Bay… Chris, our Parks and Rec director, should not be down there every single day just focusing on North Bay.”
She said she believes many taxpayers in the city do not know where North Bay is, let alone use the campgrounds.
“I will argue that it is not a priority,” Michaels said. “What becomes a priority is that you have to react all the time. You’re constantly reacting… To try to be proactive is challenging because all we’re doing – I can’t tell you how many meetings and phone calls and emails we get on a regular basis over petty stuff that none of us should have to deal with.”
Waldron said the city has made a profit of around $4,000 from the campgrounds, but factoring in indirect costs such as his time spent there, “we are severely in the hole.”
Michaels said the city has tried to put a committee together regarding North Bay, but it did not work well. She also said the campgrounds have been included in the proposed Comprehensive Plan, which would open up funding opportunities.
“We want North Bay to be successful,” Michaels said. “Is it our only project in the city? No. Do we want it to be successful? Yes. Do I want it to be the hidden gem? I don’t want it to be hidden anymore; I want the whole community to enjoy it… We’ve spent so much time with the little issues that I think we’ve lost focus on the bigger picture… It’s not our only priority. We have many priorities throughout the entire city and we’ll continue to focus on all of those priorities as a whole.”
Another article on last night’s Common Council meeting can be found here. This article details items on the agenda, other discussions during public comment, department heads’ summaries and councilor comments.
missing or outdated ad config
Sell the crap hole (Gem) let another owner worry about it.