Ball diamond to be revamped

Town council approved financing for improvements to the north diamond at the St. Francis Sportsfield during its regular meeting Monday night.
The approval is subject to there being requests made to contractors for competitive written bids for the work.
The job—which involves converting the diamond to baseball regulation standards—will be completed this fall in time for the 2004 season of the Fort Frances Little League Baseball Association.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•approved a financial contribution request for the “chem-free” grad in the amount of $575 (this is considered a council public relations expense);
•declined a financial contribution request towards the Calder Clan monument, but agreed town staff could provide technical advice and assistance as may be necessary and desirable to ensure that installation and landscaping is done in a safe manner;
•agreed to terminate the practice of inserting stuffers with municipal hydro and water/sewer billings with the exception of direct Town of Fort Frances business;
•authorized the tender award to complete a nutrient management plan, water pollution control plant capacity assessment, and lift station capacity assessment to Wardrop Engineering Inc. in the amount of $48,182.10;
•authorized the contract to install fencing around the granular stockpile yard to Wallace and Wallace in the amount of $13,254.52, including taxes;
•authorized the approval of two leases at the Fort Frances Airport (one to Lyle Armstrong to build a hangar and the other for Canadian Wilderness Outposts to construct a small storage building), with the direction to the proper bylaws be prepared;
•authorized a letter be sent to Chris and Doreen Ducharme advising they will have to pay for a second frozen waterline crews had to thaw this past winter (this was upon the recommendation by the Operation and Facilities executive committee);
•approved the purchase of Municipal VoterView software from Datafix in the amount of $2,500, plus taxes, to be financed from reserves;
•approved a staff appreciation barbecue be held at the Civic Centre on June 20 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., as recommended by the Administration and Finance executive committee;
•agreed to support the position taken by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario with regards to being against the Progressive Conservative party’s proposal to require municipalities have voter approval through a referendum before increasing local taxes; and
•declined a financial contribution request from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities National Housing Policy Options Team (the current financial situation the town faces necessitates that only those financial contribution requests that support local concerns be considered).