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Resident says Oct. 2 community-center incident was preventable; city temporarily closes open gym
Summary
A resident and community-center employee told the Apple Valley City Council the Oct. 2 incident at the community center was preventable and asked for additional staffing and oversight for youth open gym. The mayor announced open gym is closed while staff reviews policies.
At the Apple Valley City Council meeting on Oct. 9, resident and part-time community-center employee Chris Radford told the council that a traumatic incident that occurred on Oct. 2 was preventable and that security and safety concerns had been brought to management prior to the event.
"I'm here both as a resident and as a part time employee over at the community center, and I wanted to make a public statement regarding the incident of October 2," Radford said. He urged the city to "increase the budget for additional staff to supervise youth open gym." Radford provided his address for the record as 14380 Euclid Avenue.
Mayor Hoopa told the audience that the city had closed open gym pending a review of policies.
The remarks came during the meeting's audience participation period for items not on the agenda. City staff did not propose new funding or a schedule for hiring during the public comment period; the mayor's statement indicated a temporary program pause so staff can review policies. No formal council action on staffing or a budget change was taken at the Oct. 9 meeting.
The record shows Radford raised concerns about supervision and safety and explicitly asked the council to increase staffing for youth open gym. The council recorded the public comment and announced a program suspension pending policy review.
