Carbon County wants to make sure both rangers and visitors are safe when they visit Mauch Chunk Lake Park.

On Thursday, the county salary board approved two salary increases for park rangers.The lead seasonal park ranger will see an increase from $14.35 per hour to $15.52 per hour, and four seasonal park rangers will go from $11.60 per hour to $14.97 per hour, effective March 2.Commissioner William O’Gurek said that the rate increases for these five positions is “in accordance with the commissioners wishes to take a get-tough policy at Mauch Chunk Lake Park.”The rangers, two of which are former state troopers, will now carry weapons while on patrol on the park grounds.“You heard us talk about this in the past,” O’Gurek said. “We are living in a day and period when things often get to be controversial. There’s contraband (drugs and alcohol being brought in by visitors) or things of that nature at our park.”Carbon County officials already met with both Jim Thorpe and Summit Hill police regarding the action moving forward.“We’re ready to prosecute and arrest violators,” O’Gurek said. “We’re ready to take back our park.”Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the county “is making a huge financial commitment” at both Mauch Chunk Lake Park and the county buildings in beefing up its security measures. “We’re taking the necessary steps to protect our public visitors, as well as our employees,” he said. “But it’s a sad day we have to go this route.”The county first talked about getting tough at Mauch Chunk Lake Park this past December, citing a growing tourist population that visits the park during the summer months.With the increase in visitors comes problems though, including people bringing in drugs and alcohol, which are prohibited in the park, becoming belligerent and disrespectful to other visitors or the rangers and some carrying weapons.The county will require the rangers to be certified before being allowed to carry any weapons.O’Gurek said that the county is still looking to fill some of the positions.“I hope it all works out pretty well,” he said.In a related security matter, Nothstein said that the new security measures that have been implemented at the entrance to the courthouse annex are “going well.”The new measures, which include a sheriff’s deputy stationed at the front door, as well as a metal detector that visitors must walk through, went into effect on Monday.“It’s just a matter of getting used to the new procedures,” Nothstein said, adding that even he isn’t above the county’s rules, and when he forgot his county employee ID one day this week he also had to go through the metal detector before being allowed to go to his office.