Paradise councillors butt heads over sports field policy

By Mark Squibb

Paradise councillors have agreed to soften the language in a new sports field policy, but the decision wasn’t reached without considerable debate first.
Staff submitted the new athletic field closure policy for council to review at the April 11 committee of the whole meeting, but the addition of penalties for non-compliance rankled some councillors.
Councillor Larry Vaters first broached the matter by asking whether there could be some more flexibility in regards to non-compliance with the policy, which states that any team found using a field after staff had deemed it not suitable for play will be given a warning and, if it happens a second time, that team may be suspended from using all Town owned sports grounds for the remainder of the season.
Vaters requested the policy be amended to say the team would be subject to a penalty, “up to and including suspension,” rather than an outright suspension.
“By saying ‘Up to and including,’ it will allow for more flexibility for staff to introduce some other penalties that may be deemed more appropriate,” Vaters argued.
Mayor Dan Bobbett didn’t agree.
“If you did it once, and you’re going to do it the second time, you should be suspended,” said Bobbett.
Councillor Glen Carew concurred with Vaters and argued that the policy ought to be softened.
“It’s within the Town’s purview to restrict use or ban use for the year, but it does sound a little rigid,” said Carew. “I don’t want to use the term ‘heavy-handed’ but it’s a little rigid, the message. So, I would agree with councillor Vaters.”
Councillor Patrick Martin said while he understood the concerns raised by Vaters and Carew, he sided more with Bobbett.
“If you do it once, you get a warning,” said Martin. “The second time, you obviously didn’t take the warning seriously enough and I think the suspending for the year might be duly awarded, to be quite honest.”
Martin allowed that while the policy could probably have been worded a little differently, he was fine with it as is.
“Being a little heavy-handed is necessary sometimes,” said Martin.
Bobbett said there was a specific incident in the past where a team had acted in contravention of staff and could have potentially damaged the field.
“That’s an instance where you were told not to do it, but you did it anyway, so the second time should be more punitive,” said Bobbett. “Thats how I look at it.”
Vaters, however, wasn’t ready to drop the matter quite yet.
“I’d like to remind members of council that essentially what we are dealing with here are volunteers, and kids,” said Vaters. “So, if for example a volunteer did something that required a suspension of a team for the entire year, the group we’re essentially penalizing is kids. That’s not something I feel comfortable with.”
Bobbett disagreed.
“The volunteers are using a public field that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said the mayor. “This is the issue. We’re allowing these sporting groups to use our fields. They should respect the property they’re playing on. So, they’re the ones making the decision.”
Deputy Mayor Kimberley Street threw her lot in with Vaters.
“I don’t think anybody wants to damage something that they love to do and be involved in,” said Street. “I think that ‘suspended’ might be a bit of a heavy word. But I would say ‘Up to and including.’”
Street said she was aware of only one incident in her years on council of a team acting in contravention to staff orders.
CAO Lisa Niblock then intervened and pointed out that the policy reads that the team ‘may’ be suspended.
“We added that language to make it more flexible,” said Niblock. “We’re not saying it will happen; it may happen. So, there is discretion built in there for staff.”
To Niblock’s point, Councillor Deborah Quilty said inclusion of the word ‘may’ makes a big difference to the policy.
“If it had to have said, ‘Will be suspended,’ then that’s when I would have had a problem with it, but ‘may’ softens up the actual policy wording,” said Quilty.
Councillor Tommy Maher also voiced support for softening the language.
Council agreed to add the phrase “up to and including suspension” to the policy, and the policy will be moved to the public meeting agenda for approval.
The new policy, which was formally approved at council’s April 15 public meeting, will task public works staff with determining when to shut down the field due to bad weather, formerly the purview of the recreation department. The recreation department, however, will be responsible for passing closure information along to user groups.