MELFORT – The Melfort Minor Softball Association (MMSA) is asking the City of Melfort to put more resources into the Spruce Haven ball diamonds.
At the last governance and priorities meeting in July, Jessie Spencer, president of Melfort Minor Softball Association, addressed council with their concerns.
Spencer wrote that the Spruce Haven ball diamond facility is in desperate need of proper maintenance. She detailed several items of concern including: cutting and turning the shale, purchasing and adding shale to the diamonds, weed control on the diamonds, the lack of cleanliness in the canteen and washrooms, bleacher maintenance properly sloping the diamonds for water runoff. Spencer also listed the cost of canteen as too expensive for user groups. The current cost to rent the canteen is $250 per day.
Rob Lok, Director of Community Services for the City of Melfort said, “Council referred the MMSA delegation requests to the Community Services Department to review and make recommendations. The next steps will include engaging with the MMSA and other ball groups, developing a user group agreement, and presenting findings with a recommendation to the governance & priorities committee.” Lok said there is a ball user group meeting with the city tentatively scheduled for the end of August or early September.
Spencer would like to see more worker support for tournaments and big ball weekends. Lok said currently, chalking lines is a joint responsibility. City crews chalk lines prior to games from Monday to Friday when crews are working. Second games on the same diamond later in the evening, and multiple games on the weekend need to be chalked by the teams.
Spencer would also like to see a review of the decision made by the City of Melfort about softball and baseball teams being allowed to bat in the Kerry Vickar Center (KVC). “We spent $16,000 on an inflatable batting cage that we've used for one year and it currently has a hole in it because it is huge, heavy and cumbersome. We are the only community in the Northeast who is not allowed indoors,” Spencer said.
The City of Melfort had no comment on batting in the gym at this point in time, Lok stating, “We would prefer to communicate with the user groups first about batting in the gym in 2025.”
Lok said, “The requests made are for redeployment of existing staff, additional staffing, and capital improvements (or some combination thereof) which must be considered in the 2025 budgetary process."
