Tennis Courts
The city's tennis courts in Neibaur/Veterans Park and Smith Park are in serious disrepair. The city will be removing the tennis courts and skate park facility in Smith Park in the near future. And, for now, the gate to the courts in Veterans Park is locked.
Last city council meeting, we had a packed house. Most of the residents were there to discuss their desire to have new tennis courts in the city. Most of those in attendance were connected in someway to the tennis program at Sugar-Salem High School. Their goal is to figure out a way to get six tennis courts built in Sugar City. Six courts is apparently the minimum needed for the high school team to host a tournament.
Jason Flaig has been appointed by the mayor and approved by the city council to lead a committee to research possible options for getting new tennis courts, including location, types of courts, and short-term and long-term funding.
The school district will, of course, need to get involved with this process, as their students and teams would be major users of any new courts in the city.
There are pros and cons to the various possible locations, including city parks and the land surrounding the new junior high. And there are challenges to raising the necessary money to build and maintain tennis courts.
I think as all interested parties and residents work together, we should be able to find a good way to move forward. And as any new courts could also be used for pickleball, I think there are more interested parties out there than just high school tennis players. It will be great to get the next report from Jason and his committee.
Election
This year there were two 4-year council seats and one 2-year council seat up for election, as well as the mayor's office. Steve Adams (mayor), Joy Ball (4-yr seat) and me, Glenn Dayley, (4-yr seat) applied to run again, and no one else threw their hat in the ring for those positions.
Current Councilman Daniel Baird decided not to run for the seat he occupies after having been appointed to the seat when it was left vacant with the resignation of Connie Fogle. It is a normal 4-yr seat, but there are only two years left on the original four years Councilwoman Fogle was elected to.
Mark Oliphant and Carter J. Stanford are running for this 2-year seat. I wish them luck in the election and look forward to working with one of them on the council come January. Please get out and vote in November!
Treats in the Streets
The 2nd Annual Treats in the Streets is coming up on Friday the 13th from 4-7pm.
We shut down Center Street and have a community party. Last year's event was great fun with lots of people and lots to do! We're looking for vendors and businesses and sponsors who wish to participate with a booth or activity or donation. Please contact city hall to get involved with this or other events and committees in our community.
Isn't Sugar great?!