Letter prompts council discussion on town’s public washrooms

A recent letter to the editor in the Southpoint Sun prompted Leamington Councillor Tim Wilkinson to ask about washroom availability at the town sports facilities at last week’s council meeting.

The letter stated that a late baseball game under the lights on diamond #7 finished up late and spectators, parents and players were dismayed by the locked washroom facilities at the baseball complex.

Not only did it inconvenience the Leamington players and fans, but also the out-of-town team and their fans who still faced an hour’s drive to get home.

Wilkinson brought that question to council and asked why they cannot be kept open until every last person has left the property.

“Can’t the last person turn out the lights and then lock the washrooms?” he asked.

Leamington CAO Peter Neufeld explained the washroom conundrum to council, citing the number of facilities that need to be closed down each and every night.

Washrooms are open from 8 am to 8 pm for all municipal facilities and one seasonal worker is responsible for thoroughly cleaning each one and locking them before moving on to the next.

Typically, according to Neufeld, they start doing this about 8 pm and work their way through all the town-owned public washrooms, including soccer fields, baseball fields, Mersea Park, Rick Atkin Park and Seacliff Park.

“Typically, they finish with Seacliff Park,” he said. “The process is more than just turning off the lights.”

WILKINSON

Neufeld explained that the seasonal employee must get all washrooms cleaned and closed and be back to the town shop by around 9:30 pm so that they can clean up and punch out by their 10 pm quitting time.

Wilkinson asked Neufeld if they could look into it further, saying that this will be an issue all summer long.

“No matter how late a hockey game goes — even until midnight — you can always count on the arena washrooms being open until everyone leaves,” he said. “We have a fantastic board of volunteers with Leamington Minor Baseball who’d be more than willing to help out.”

Neufeld said he would revisit the issue with Public Works Manager Ken Brown and see what more could be done.