Police weight room closed

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

A padlock on the city police officers’ weight room at the Blue Building bars participants from entering after a temporary decision made by the city administrator last week. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

The city’s police weight room was closed last week and the potential for its re-opening has not been determined, City Administrator Herb Llewellyn said Monday.

The no-frills place for police officers to work out has been in existence about two years and was described as a way for officers to combat work-related stress. Credit for developing the weight room was given to Vice Mayor Billy Wood, who initiated utilizing the extra space at the Blue Building for weight-lifting equipment.

Llewellyn said he asked Police Chief Joe Melton to shut it down after an officer allegedly got hurt there. Llewellyn said an officer filed a workman’s compensation claim with the city after a shard of metal got stuck in his eye while weight lifting.

He said he wants to understand the city’s liability with regard to the weight room, even though the city required participants to sign waivers absolving the city of liability.

Llewellyn said he believed it could take a few weeks for him to understand the issues and indicated the closure is not permanent, but gave no definite time table for how long the weight room would be closed.