For many months, they tried to be heard “on the record.” Tuesday, they found a way.
Representatives of the Elliot Lake Youth Slo-Pitch and T-Ball addressed the city's Recreation and Culture Standing Committee in a desperate effort to save the baseball diamond they've called home base for years after pitching their case at the Elliot Lake Recreation and Culture Town Hall in April.
The story, or at least the club's involvement actually began March 13 at a meeting of council when Kari Kluke, Director of Recreation and Culture, brought a recommendation to council to remove the ball diamond and locate a skate park the city had gotten funding for in that area.
Kluke included the ball diamond’s usage statistic in the opening verbal report. “So, we’re recommending that we look at potentially moving it towards the Kiwanis baseball field where right now it sees three hours of rentals a week …”
There were no questions about the ballpark usage from the councillors.
In total, the committee and council deliberated about 17 minutes of which, approximately 1 minute was about any impact on the residents using the ball diamond.
The council unanimously approved option No. 1. All six councillors were present.
The ball diamond’s fate was sealed. (March 13, 2023. Video here.)
Ball club's nasty surprise
The same evening the council met, the Elliot Lake Youth Slo-Pitch and T-Ball people were having their first meeting to prepare for the season.
The council’s decision took the youth ball club by surprise.
Stephanie MacLeod, member of the club’s executive, spoke to ElliotLakeToday about the experience of learning of the council’s decision that evening. “We were actually having our first ball meeting, and we were all excited for the year, and then we came home to this. So we were all quite upset.”
Since then, MacLeod and others have tried to reach out to the councillors and city staff to have their perspective heard and considered.
“After that, we tried to attend the next council meeting to be asked to be put on the agenda so we could have our say because we didn’t feel like we were asked beforehand. We had no idea any of this was going ahead.”
“And then we never got the opportunity to speak in front of them or speak at a council meeting,” MacLeod said.
The club tried every way they could think of to get this back onto the council’s agenda.
All-wheels skate park
Last winter, Kari Kluke, the Director of Recreation and Culture, informed the Recreation and Culture Standing Committee about a potential, generous local grant of $250,000 for youth recreation facilities. Kluke’s report contained three options for projects. (March 6, 2023. Agenda item 7.4. Video here.)
Report Option No. 1 was for a new, all-wheels skate park to be located where the Kiwanis Park ball diamond is presently located.
Option No. 2 was for “rebuilding/rejuvenating the skate park in its current location (on the tennis court) […] This option does not require losing the ball diamond at Kiwanis Park”.
Option No. 3 was to use the donation to contribute to the pool renovations.
The report recommended Option No. 1. Kluke told the committee about the poor condition of the tennis court area and that it needs to be addressed “mainly because of the safety concerns that are present.”
The only discussion about the ball diamond was when Councillor Flintoff asked, “My question is first for the youth baseball. Reading this report, you’re saying we could put it into that ballpark, but it wouldn’t affect the youth baseball because we have enough ballparks in town. Is that.. ?”
Kluke responded, “ … based on the hours that were pulled, there is about three hours a week that we see in rentals at that field, as well as the other Burley one, which is located behind Lourdes school and it’s the same amount, three hours. So, it’s twice a week we’re seeing each field used so that it could be used more, utilized more …”
The committee voted unanimously to receive the report and pass it forward to the council.
The committee members are Councillor Rick Bull (chair), Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan, and Councillor Charles Flintoff. Councillor Luc Morrissette also attended the meeting as a non-voting member.
Ball club pitches to save the field
On April 18, three members of the public including MacLeod, spoke passionately about the need to keep the ball diamond for the kids at a Recreation and Culture Town Hall meeting. The Director of Recreation and Culture, Kari Kluke, and Councillor Rick Bull, Chair of the Recreation and Culture Standing Committee, attended the meeting.
ElliotLakeToday asked MacLeod if she heard from anyone at City Hall after speaking up at the town hall.
“No, I never heard from anybody,” she said.
When asked about other ways the club tried to reach out to City Hall, MacLeod answered, “We were emailing a lot of the councillors and Ms. Kluke directly and not really getting anywhere. We tried to attend council meetings or any meetings where we could try to address council and just let them know our concerns about losing the Kiwanis ball field but we also had a hard time trying to get to talk to councillors face to face, like in any kind of meeting.”
The club launched an online petition in the spring. It has over 680 signatures but the City does not recognize electronic petitions.
MacLeod and Cyr are planning to do another one. This time, using the City’s official hard copy forms.
Ball club pitches again to save the field
Sometime during the recent long weekend, an agenda was uploaded on the City’s website. It was for a Recreation and Culture Standing Committee meeting, on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
The agenda included a general report from the Director of Recreation and Culture. The two-page report included a one-sentence paragraph, “Soil samples will be taking place this fall at Kiwanis baseball field as the next step towards the all-wheels inclusive park.”
The Procedural Bylaw allows citizens to register for a 10-minute presentation. The bylaw also requires presenters to contact the Municipal Clerk a minimum of three business days in advance of the meeting to register. Because City staff posted the agenda at the beginning of the long weekend for a Tuesday meeting, that was impossible.
However, citizens can register before noon on the same day as the meeting, to speak for up to 2 minutes during the Public Input Session.
It was only one sentence in a two-page director’s report, but after months of waiting; it was just the opening needed. Like a good ball player spotting an opening in the field, Stephanie MacLeod stepped up to the podium and put the ball right into the opening.
MacLeod didn’t waste any time getting to the message: “Good evening. I would just like to say, we need to keep the Kiwanis ball diamond.”
“This year there were over 200 kids who signed up to play youth slow pitch and T-ball. This field was very busy every Tuesday and Thursday night with kids playing and learning the game of slow pitch, which is an important part of our community,” she said.
“At this field alone, 83 kids were playing ball on those days.”
MacLeod continued, “As a member of the executive of the Elliot Lake Slo-Pitch, we would like to ask [the] Recreation and Culture Committee to please reconsider the location of the All Wheels park. This would take away a critical ball field [from] our kids' program.”
MacLeod’s public input is here.
Swing and a miss for the ball club
Immediately after the Tuesday committee meeting, ElliotLakeToday spoke on the front steps of City Hall, with MacLeod and Jess Cyr. Cyr is also a club executive member.
And following that, with the committee Chair, Rick Bull.
Cyr commented, “We’ve never been able to actually speak to them directly. That’s frustrating,”
When asked if they received any replies to their email messages to the councillors, Cyr said, “I got one generic message from one councillor and that was it. The other ones didn’t respond.”
“We had reached out to the Clerk as well as to Acting Mayor Wannan, requesting it to go on the agenda of the council meetings, and the message was never returned whether it would be on the agenda or not.”
MacLeod added there was a meeting with a staff person, Director of Recreation and Culture, Kari Kluke. “Jess [Cyr] actually had a sit-down meeting with Ms. Kluke too, and did not get anywhere.”
Cyr and MacLeod also clarified that there are many issues related to using other fields. They need a small field suitable for children and appropriate storage facilities for equipment. Also, the Tuesday -Thursday schedule at Kiwanis allows for make-up games and avoids conflict with youth soccer. Some of the young ball players also play soccer. All of those requirements are met at the Kiwanis Park ball diamond.
After speaking with MacLeod and Cyr, ElliotLakeToday also spoke with the committee chair, Councillor Rick Bull.
ELT: “Is there any way for council to reconsider a council decision?”
Bull: “You would have to talk to Natalie about that.” (Natalie Bray is the Municipal Clerk for Elliot Lake.)
ELT: “I understand that they’re planning to do a petition and use the proper form from the city. If they bring a petition to the city, what would council do with that?”
Bull: “I can’t speak for council. I don’t know.”
ELT: “What would you recommend they do with that, as the Parks and Rec [committee] chair?” [Note: It is the Recreation and Culture Standing Committee, not “Parks and Rec,” as stated by Calverley.)
Bull: “Just what I said. Talk to Natalie. See what the procedure is. That’s all I have to say.”
ELT: “They were reaching out to Natalie before and not feeling as though they were having any headway with being able to present their case. I think they asked to present to council.”
Bull: “They came to council once, I thought. Maybe I’m thinking of the Town Hall [meeting] where they were speaking. Anyway, if there’s a way, I’m sure Natalie would know. Right now, I don’t. It’s a directive of council. We passed a motion. That’s the way it is for now.”
ELT: “I think they would say that the directive passed before they even knew it was being considered; that no one consulted them before it was considered by council.”
Bull: “So, all I can say is that’s council’s directive for now. That’s what we got to do.”