After a more than two-hour meeting Thursday, Oak Creek Mayor Melissa Dobbins voiced concern over an issue that has attracted a considerable amount of attention from community members in recent weeks.

“I was out of town, and I came home and took a few minutes to hop on social media, and the very first thing I see was a video of our soccer nets being vandalized, and I am going to say vandalized,” said Dobbins.

The mayor referred to content posted to social media in early August, which has since been taken down, that apparently showed the nets for two soccer goals at Decker Park had been deliberately cut.

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“This is unacceptable. We are a small town operating on a small budget as it is, and those nets were in great shape,” she said. “To have a couple of bad apples really dictate that for the rest of the community is grossly upsetting to me.”

Town staff noted that the nets are being removed from Decker Park but not because of the vandalism. They were originally donated by an individual to a local youth soccer club and will be relocated to Yampa where practices are scheduled to be held.

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“That just makes me even more angry to hear because you know people are putting their heart and soul into nurturing the well-being of this community to harness and nurture the well-being of our kids and our community,” the mayor said.

Dobbins noted that the goals have been used regularly by community members for pickup games held multiple times a week.

The mayor also noted that in the wake of the nets being cut, several members of the community offered to contribute donations to see the nets restored.

But with the news that they would be relocated to Yampa for youth practices, Dobbins and the Town Board members asked about the possibility of the town purchasing a new set of nets.

Interim Town Administrator Mary Alice Page-Allen said town staff would investigate setting up a donation fund for those who wished to support the purchase. She said she would return with additional information at the board’s next meeting.

With work on creating a fund set in motion, Dobbins asked her colleagues if they thought the town should take preventative action by investing in security cameras for the park and for the town’s pump track.

“It’s really hard to invest in nice things when people ruin them,” said Dobbins. “I wish whoever it was, was accountable, but it’s hard when you don’t have eyes on the park all the time.”

Town staff noted that a “simple game camera” had been placed at Decker Park following the soccer net vandalism, but Dobbins said a more effective system would give the town the ability, “not to monitor them” constantly but to have a backup system in the event of an incident.

The Town Board members signaled their approval for town staff to add the possibility of funding cameras to their upcoming budget discussions.

“It’s just because I witness so many kids being abusive, throwing trash,” said Trustee Kelly McElfish. “There’s just a point in time where that park is so valuable to us, you would want to protect one of our greatest assets to the community.”

Trustee Bernie Gagne noted his career experience includes 20 years spent working in electronic security systems.

“It’s not that difficult to accomplish, to have a four- or six-camera system at the park,” he said.