Last Monday’s council agenda included a proposed bylaw and a contract for a $350,000 pump track at Kiwanis Park. The problem is there wasn't any item on the agenda for a discussion and approval, and ElliotLakeToday has not been able to locate a past resolution approving the project.
As well, council and staff have not responded to three requests from ELT for information directing to an approval resolution.
A few hours after the third request, the bylaw and contract disappeared from the agenda package and the item was struck from the agenda.
For information, “A pump track is a continuous circuit of banked turns interspaced by rollers and other features that can be ridden on a bike without pedaling. Most commonly constructed from soil, riders create momentum via up and down body moments called pumping.” That description is according to Bermstyle.com, a source that is not the proponent of this project.
The council giveth and the council taketh away
The main problem with the plan is, if the project is executed as described, it will be built where the Kiwanis Park ball diamond is located. That would mean the loss of the ball field. And the ball field is integral to the program of the Elliot Lake Youth Slo-Pitch and T-Ball Club.
According to club executive member, Stephanie MacLeod, “At this field alone, 83 kids were playing ball.”
Surely, there must be another suitable place in Elliot Lake to build a pump track.
At the end of the first inning, it was ‘one nothing’ for council
Council threw their first fastball past the kids’ ball club last March. Without any consultation with the club, council and staff put it through committee and council – all within one week.
And council just stonewalled from there.
Last September, the story of their stonewalling was told in detail. Don’t miss the 10 pictures of the club’s youth teams because that is what this is about.
"For the kids"
Last Sunday afternoon at Kiwanis Park, longtime resident, Wendy Bromley, told ELT, “The theme that I grew up with, with my parents, was ‘kids first.’ Kids can play because they're the ones that are going to raise the community.”
“And if you don't support the children, where is your community going to be?”
Bromley knows the ball field story from the beginning. “Dad was on council. Without Ralph Bromley and other people before him doing parks and recreation, we wouldn’t have what we have today.”
“The hard work of these pioneers, such as my father and others like the late Bob Sterling- to make this for the kids,” she said.
Club executive member, Jess Cyr, was also there last Sunday. ELT asked Cyr, “What do you want other Elliot Lakers to know about your situation?”
Cyr: “How frustrating it's been. Trying to get a hold – just to speak to council and give our two cents. We haven’t been able to.”
“We never got our say. We didn’t know about it back then in the spring. We didn’t know that was on the agenda. And then, basically, we haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone since,” Cyr said.
Staff maintained that a Motion to Reconsider is required
Last September, after hearing MacLeod’s story, ELT reached out to Municipal Clerk Natalie Bray for more information.
Responding the same day, Bray wrote, “as per Council’s Procedural Bylaw – A motion to reconsider would need to be brought forward by a member of Council.”
Jan. 15: Dropped ball?
But last Monday, when the bylaw and contract appeared on the agenda with no corresponding discussion item, an important detail was noticed.
Council’s March 13 resolution only approved that staff “apply for a donation to contribute towards renovation Option 1.” It did not approve the project.
So, unless council and staff can produce the resolution where the project was specifically approved, there is no motion to reconsider.
And for a motion, council must bring this to an open session for debate.
If so, the ‘little guy citizens’ can still be in this ball game.
That's my view. What is yours? Please comment below.