Comstock Township is still working out how to keep its parks staffed and safe for the rest of the season, after a stretch of safety incidents pushed the Township to bring in private security on an emergency basis.
At a special joint meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Township Board on July 13, Parks Director Katie Bush laid out what’s been tried so far. Temporary security, hired through Adams Risk Management Group, has been covering peak hours and has been able to step in on rule enforcement when park staff haven’t felt safe doing it themselves. Bush also tested going without security for two nights last week and said the difference was immediate. “There were obvious issues with not having staff there and rules being broken,” she said.
None of the options tried so far are a long-term fix, in Bush’s view. “I don’t think that the security option is great long term,” she said, though she called it the best option available for now. The Township has roughly eight weeks left in the season before Labor Day, and board members and staff spent much of the meeting talking through what a more permanent solution might look like for 2027, including a proposal from Adams Risk Management Group for a uniformed, armed patrol option covering multiple parks, priced at roughly $79 an hour.
The board also discussed hiring a second ordinance officer to help cover parks alongside the Township’s existing officer, who’s currently stretched across multiple duties. A panel, made up of the parks director, township supervisor, and the current ordinance officer, was formed to draft the job description, post the position, and run interviews. Equipment costs for outfitting a new officer, including body cameras and safety gear, were part of the budget discussion, since current equipment has been prone to breakdowns and replacement costs.
No final funding decision was made at this meeting; the conversation continues as the Township looks for something more sustainable than emergency funding and temporary contracts.
