Lakeport Mayor Suzanne Lyons cuts through a toilet paper ribbon in celebration of the reopening of the city of Lakeport's restroom facility in Library Park on Friday, May 27, 2011. Looking on include Public Works Director Doug Grider, Councilman Tom Engstrom, City Manager Margaret Silveira and Barbara Breunig of the Lakeport Main Street Association. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – City officials gathered on Friday afternoon to celebrate a significant overhaul and facelift for Library Park's restroom facilities.

Over the last two months the building, which sits next to the Carnegie Library, has been the focus of a project to improve the facility and make it more user-friendly – both to visitors and residents.

The project got some of its impetus from the city's Parks and Recreation Committee, which worked with Public Works Director Doug Grider to get it off the ground.

Mayor Suzanne Lyons, a member of the committee, also lobbied for moving the project forward.

Lyons, on hand for the ribbon – or, in this case, toilet paper – cutting on Friday afternoon to officially reopen the restrooms, said the facilities had been less than welcoming, and downright dirty, before the renovation got under way.

Grider said the building – which had new paint and floors two years ago – was a common target of graffiti, and someone even broke a sink off the wall in the men's bathroom. “The restrooms typically get hammered.”

With the building having been so frequently targeted, and with the city in tight financial straits, at one point Lyons said there was a consideration about taking the building down entirely and using portable restrooms.

However, a 2002 state parks bond provided the nearly $120,000 that made it possible to carry out the work, much of which was done by Lakeport Public Works staff, said Grider.

“We said, we'll give it one more try,” said Lyons, noting that the Lakeport Main Street Association also urged the city to maintain and fix the building.

The renovation of the building – erected in the late 1970s – included completely revamped interiors; a lowered, sheetrock ceiling; new floors; new paint and new recycled plastic partitions, Grider said.

Grider said the renovation also has several energy- and water-saving measures built into it. Those include solar tubes that use the sun to light up the interior so lights don't have to run all day, and new sinks and toilets that operate on sensors and are metered to cut down on water use. New hand dryers are expected to arrive next week.

The building now is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Grider said, with the men's and women's restrooms each having one wheelchair-accessible stall.

On the building's exterior, its former brown color has been replaced by an off-white that is close to the color of the Carnegie Library – the final coat was drying Friday afternoon – and it has a new roof, Grider said.

“Everything's brand new,” he said.

Lyons said she'd heard some car clubs hadn't wanted to use Library Park for shows because of the bathrooms, so it's hoped that the renovation will help attract tourism in addition to serving residents better.

This summer, “There's going to be a lot of happy concert goers,” Lyons said.

Grider said the city hired Bruce Brower to manage the project, with Frank Totorica and his crew doing the plumbing work.

The project moved quickly – it started in March and was completed within two months. “This thing was on high speed,” Grider said.

The bathrooms will be open during the day and closed at 5:30 p.m. unless there are special events, Grider said. When the building is closed, visitors will be able to use facilities at First and Third streets.

Lyons said the city plans to hold a slogan context to engage the community in keeping the bathrooms in good shape, and also wants to find volunteers to help police them, in addition to the monitoring Grider's staff carries out.

“We want to create community ownership, that's what we're after,” said Grider.

He said he wants to communicate that the funds that went into the project aren't the city's – but the community's.

“This is taxpayer money that did this,” he said of the project. Anyone who damages it is just cheating themselves and others, he added.

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