LOCK HAVEN — Lock Haven City Council and staff are ready to work with members of the community to find ways to ensure the longevity of the Tiger Den playground, even if it requires a complete rebuild.

At its meeting Monday night, council discussed at length the playground, which was closed in October 2025 due to safety concerns.

Initially, staff offered council the opportunity for Leathers and Associates, the company that originally constructed the playground 20 years ago, to complete an assessment to find out what pieces may be unsafe and what might be salvageable.

Director of Community Life Kasey Dumm said that was the Leathers recommendation, which would cost $2,800, due to it originally being a community project. Leathers was the firm that worked with a community-based group when the park was first constructed.

“They would have someone come down and provide a comprehensive report, fully breaking down everything they see and what they would recommend,” she said.

Councilmember Jeff Brinker asked if the city could forgo the assessment by Leathers and instead have staff determine what pieces of the equipment could be salvaged and used for a new build.

“I think we already know it’s 20 years old. I don’t think we need to spend $2,800 to say ‘oh yea, this is old.’ The bottom line is we aren’t going to be able to fix it the way it needs to be fixed,” he said. “I think we can self-assess some of this.”

Conklin noted the city would have difficulties insuring equipment that is from the old park, given it wasn’t professionally assessed by the company which built it.

Brinker said he was thinking of it more as using pieces for fencing or an art installation or incorporated in a way that isn’t as used equipment that would need to be insured.

City Manager/Interim Manager Abbey Roberts said the city could do what it’s done for many of its other park upgrades and conduct community surveys to find out what would best work in the park.

“We have a robust process in doing that. We certainly can take steps to envision what it looks like, what people want as far as a new structure and we can go ahead and do that starting this week,” she said. “Then once we have that design we can start looking at quotes from Leathers and Associates and any other wood or other manufacturers depending on what comes in the survey.”

Chris Long, a city resident and the administrator behind the “Save the Tiger Den” group on Facebook said there are a lot of community members interested in trying to save the park. He said some would even be willing to join a committee to work with the city.

Roberts suggested they work with the already-formed Parks and Recreation Committee.

“There’s a lot of appetite in the community to fix the park, to be involved in fixing the park,” Long said. “We don’t expect, or at least I don’t expect, the city to cover all of this. It was built by the community, funded by the community.”

Long noted community members in the Facebook group, which is reaching 200 members, had expressed interest in donating their time to repair or rebuild the park and offer financial assistance or fundraising efforts as well.

“We’re willing to work if you’re open to doing that, we’re willing to work with you guys,” he said.

Conklin noted his biggest concern was continued maintenance of the park.

“The long-term goal here, because we didn’t have the money to maintain it when we took it over from the school district,” he said. “It would be nice to know what we have available to use.”

Roberts noted parks like Hoberman have endowments through the Clinton County Community Foundation. She suggested the city could speak with the CCCF and find out if an endowment could be created for the Tiger Den.

Long said a community committee could continue even after the park is built to fundraise for maintenance.

“I think it’s something people might be interested in,” he said.

Council also discussed the possibility of getting a rough estimate from Leathers and Associates so the community group would have a potential fundraising goal.

“I don’t think we need an official quote. Just a goal number,” Councilmember Tami Brannan said.

Roberts said the city could likely speak with Leathers and Associates to get the quote at no cost.

If a cost were to be a possibility, Building Code Official Cyndi Walker suggested possibly having the community group speak to them instead.

“Maybe they’d be more willing to give a replacement cost estimate at a lower price than what they’re going to offer us as a municipality,” Walker said.

Brannan also took a moment in the conversation to speak to dog lovers in the community.

With a portion of Tiger Den not being utilized and green space, it was previously discussed by council about turning it into a dog park.

Dumm said the quote to make this happen was a couple thousand dollars.

“I want to reiterate and make a call out, I think that Mayor (Joel) Long made a few meetings ago, if you are in the community and you want this dog park this is not a lot of money,” she said. “Get together with your friends. Raise some money, come to city council and ask for this dog park. It can happen.”

Brannan noted that the same community group could help ensure the park is clean and maintained.

“That’s one of the large concerns, that it doesn’t stay clean. That’s why we’d need a community group to help maintain that dog park,” she said.

Following its discussion, council tabled the recommended assessment by Leathers and Associates and directed staff to begin conducting surveys within the community and develop a plan for the Tiger Den moving forward.