After repeated vandalism at Columbia Falls parks, the city is considering a law that could bar repeat offenders from being there at all.

The bathroom at Fenholt Park, where the city’s skate park is located was recently vandalized, and earlier this year the skatepark itself was spray painted with graffiti.

More recently as the weather has warmed up, youths have been driving electric motorcycles in city parks, rutting and tearing up the lawns.

Columbia Falls Police Chief Chad Stephens at the June 15 city council meeting noted that the vast majority of park visitors are law abiding, but there are some youths that are problematic. Moreover, police aren’t getting much, if any, help from their parents.

So he suggested a law that would allow the city to bar repeat offenders from being in the parks at all.

Courts have ruled that judges can ban convicted defendants from geographical areas, such as parks, as part of a sentence.  In Renton, Washington the city has an ordinance that allows the city to expel a person for up to 1 year if they have been previously expelled from a park twice in the last 30 days or three times in the last 90 days.

Under the Renton law, assault, alcohol and illegal drug consumption, sexual acts, brandishing or using a weapon, vandalism, theft (including graffiti) are all expulsion offenses.

Stephens said he would do research on ordinances and bring council some suggestions.