The Town of Bashaw council received an update on recent requests made by the local minor ball association. The update was made at the July 16 regular meeting of council.

Included in council’s consent agenda was the Bashaw Minor Ball board meeting minutes dated June 20; in the minutes it was noted the minor ball association met with Town of Bashaw Chief administrative officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller and Public Works Foreman Rick Schmidt. Minor Ball President Kerri McNally had previously appeared at Bashaw council to voice concerns about rising costs passed along from the town to the association, specifically mentioning reduction in diamond maintenance, weed trimming and shale and chalk needs.

Town councillors heard an update from Fuller about the meeting with the CAO noting the baseball association won’t be meeting again until the fall.

Councillors discussed some of the minor ball association's concerns, including diamond #3 requiring shale which also needs to be floated regularly to keep the material softer and weed free. Councillors asked how often shale needs to be purchased with Fuller responding when it needs to be done, adding it may be once a year.

It was noted the town made a one-time purchase of garbage cans at the request of the minor ball association.

The town staff and minor ball meeting minutes also made clear Bashaw is hosting more tournaments than in the past, pointing out that, for example, the association purchased 25 bags of chalk per season and increased that to 50 to help cover more games. The 50 bags wasn’t enough and it’s now estimated 90 bags will suffice.

Also, the baseball association noted it can secure shale at $140 per tonne rather than the $240 the Town of Bashaw is paying.

The CAO was quoted in the baseball meeting minutes as stating that new requests that in essence cost the municipality money but don’t include any new revenue may cause property taxes to increase in order to cover expenses.

Coun. Cindy Orom stated that the minor ball representatives will be coming back to town council in Aug., and perhaps the topic should be tabled until then.

Coun. Jackie Northey observed that Bashaw Minor Ball has a very large number of kids and doesn’t ask very much of the town, quite a bit less than the arena for example.

Councillors unanimously agreed to table Bashaw Minor Ball’s requests until after the Aug. council meeting.