At Monday evening’s council meeting, Elliot Lake city council approved a staff recommendation to purchase ball field lighting for Burley 1 and 2 at a cost of $349,921.
Burley Park is located in the vicinity of Pearson Drive and Mississauga Avenue, behind Our Lady of Lourdes school. The entrance is from Pearson Drive.
A staff report from the Director of Recreation and Culture in the council’s agenda package informed, “To ensure safe extended play at both Burley 1 and Burley 2 baseball fields, new lights need to be installed at Burley 1, and the existing, near end-of-life lights at Burley 2 need to be replaced.”
The staff report compared wood, composite, and steel poles from the two contractors who responded to a Request for Proposal (RFP).
Staff recommended steel poles and the approval of lighting for both fields. The report is here.
At Monday's council meeting, Director of Recreation and Culture, Karilyn Kluke, told the council, “There's a 25-year warranty and a 10-year labour warranty that comes with the steel poles.” The poles are expected to last 60 years.
At a February 12 council meeting, during the planning for a pump track to be constructed in the ball diamond area at Kiwanis Park, Kluke suggested lighting for Burley 1, “to ensure that youth baseball can still be accommodated at other fields in town, including adding lights to Burley 1 so they can play later games."
Construction of the pump track began August 28.
Monday evening, Councillor Charles Flintoff said, “the fact that we're bringing lighting to Burley One will help because the pump track's well underway, it's looking good over there, and this is just what we promised the ballplayers that your department would get done, and we're doing it.”
“And the only other comment I have on it, it's also $82,500 under the allocated budget that we put in for this year, so all in all, it's a really good news.”
The recommendation for the $349,921 contract, was approved by the six council members in attendance. “The funds be drawn from the building and facilities reserve.”