Bashaw council hears concerns about baseball field condition

Stu Salkeld

The Town of Bashaw heard complaints from a large sports organization about the condition of recreation fields in the municipality. The presentation was made at the June 18 regular meeting of council.

Bashaw Minor Ball Association President Kerri McNalley spoke to council about the condition of baseball diamonds the organization uses, saying as she began her presentation the association had concerns about the current level of field maintenance. She continued that the association has seen a significant decrease in maintenance service to the diamonds.

McNalley stated that the association wanted to keep the diamond conditions consistent as the current inconsistency isn’t acceptable. During the presentation a number of issues were mentioned, including shale on the diamonds either being too hard or too soft and issues with gopher holes.

McNalley stated as the condition of the diamonds gets worse it’s not just an inconvenience but could pose a safety hazard. She stated that the association isn’t asking for anything new, it’d just like to see maintenance levels return to what was standard in the past.

She noted that the minor ball association has asked its own volunteers in the past to help maintain the field but the group felt it wasn’t fair or sustainable to keep doing this.

She stated that the association feels it contributes a lot to the Bashaw community, citing several baseball tournaments she described as bringing over 250 players and their families to Bashaw.

As well, the minor ball association was recently told that the town was increasing fees for field maintenance because baseball tournaments had been added. As a result the association is considering cutting tournaments.

Mayor Rob McDonald asked if the association charges its members fees; McNalley answered yes, fees range depending on a player’s age and range from $50 to $150. She confirmed the association recently increased its fees as umpire services become more costly.

During discussion it was noted field maintenance is costly and time consuming for the town; staff stated that the town gets about $10 to $15 per child from those fees to put toward field maintenance, and a suggestion was made during discussion that the share be boosted to $20.

As well, Mayor McDonald stated that field maintenance may have suffered recently because the town coped with equipment break-downs.

As councillors discussed the concerns, Coun. Jackie Northey mentioned a community-wide recreation plan. The idea has been discussed before and would include public facilities and user groups in town.

Coun. Cindy Orom asked if town staff had a meeting planned with minor ball to discuss these issues; Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller confirmed she will meet with the group and also described the Public Works department’s efforts to find more affordable supplies such as shale.

Councillors also discussed the possibility of hiring a field maintenance contractor to help maintain recreation fields.

Fuller noted that the town did recently start to bill minor ball for tournaments but that provision had actually been in the bylaw for quite some time. The town had been waiving the billing however.