ESTEVAN — Estevan city council heard a request for funding from the Estevan Minor Softball Association during Monday night’s meeting.
President Wade St. Onge, speaking to council, said they play on six diamonds in the Pleasantdale area, and they have a partnership with the city on the facility.
The softball association wants to proceed with upgrades at the park. Two of the six diamonds have been in disrepair for a number of years because they weren’t being used, but the number of young athletes playing softball has grown and now they need all six diamonds for most of the season.
About 200 young people, the vast majority of them girls, registered for softball in 2022.
Safety is the biggest concern, most notably when it comes to fencing. All six diamonds have a six-foot high backstop, and there is a gap between the backstop and the dugouts. Some fences in that gap are only three feet high.
“The bleachers aren’t necessarily enough for everybody [among the spectators] and people are sittings and bring their own lawn chairs,” said St. Onge.
Line drives can be a danger for spectators and players, he said.
Dugouts were quite small when they were constructed, measuring four feet in width and 16 feet in length. Some have been expanded, but they’re still cramped.
“Some of this work we do ourselves if we can,” said St. Onge.
They also need to relocate the bullpens out of the outfield.
Minor ball also wants to upgrade the canteen and install a couple of sheds for their equipment. And they have investigated the possibility of a canopy to provide shade during the heat.
The association also wants to host a Western Canada championship, similar to the one hosted by the Estevan Minor Baseball Association this summer. Estevan has been a great host for tournaments in the past, St. Onge said, and people marvel at the facilities.
The last major upgrades were for the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
The association completed some work this year and they want to complete some of the more pressing tasks next year. Then they would take care of the rest at a later date. The estimate they have is about $65,000, and they want to have a partnership with the city in which the city would match them dollar for dollar.
Council members voiced support for the request. It was pointed out that there is contingency money in the budget each year for organizations that come forward with requests to upgrade facilities like this.
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Council received information regarding private rentals of the Crescent Point Lounge at Affinity Place during Estevan Bruins’ home games.
In a letter to council, Diane Wenham with the city said the lounge can be rented for $79 per hour during Bruin games. The room is then shut to the public and they need to open a secondary bar for skybox owners. This has caused conflict with people who regularly watch games from the lounge. When the lounge is rented out, Wenham said the Bruins sell 50 tickets to the interested company, but that doesn’t mean there will be 50 patrons in the lounge.
Wenham suggested increasing the rental rate and to have a minimum food and beverage fee to guarantee a total sale of $1,000 on a weekday and $1,500 for a weekend. Further, people in skyboxes would still be able to purchase drinks from the lounge.
The issue was tabled to get the Bruins’ input.
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The city of will be assessed a $35.74 per capita library fee by the Southeast Regional Library next year, so total fees will be $387,814.
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One building permit worth $25,000 was issued last month, bringing the total for the year to 39 permits worth more than $5.99 million.
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The City of Estevan is going to invest the money collected for the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home through the city’s health levy.
The $1.3 million will be invested with Royal Bank of Canada Securities for a three-year term at 4.75 per cent. The rate might fluctuate with the market.
It was noted at the meeting that this is a guaranteed investment and the city’s money will not be at risk.
