ABOVE: A look at the pickleball courts at Veterans Park in August of 2023. A year later, the surface of the courts has not improved and residents are pleading with the city to repair them.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Park Board revisited the topic of the pickleball court at Veterans Park during its meeting on Tuesday as a plea to fix them up came from a resident.

Bill Crawford, a regular player of the popular game, came before the board to ask that action be taken to improve the city’s sole outdoor court. Crawford first came to the board in August of 2023 to ask that something be done to improve the surface of the court.

“They certainly haven’t gotten any better and I’m really disappointed that whoever did the work hasn’t been solicited to come back and either perform or get the money back,” Crawford said.

He pointed out that the city spent over $20,000 to get the court resurfaced in the past few years, only to have it peel and end up in its current shape.

Board Member Jodie Whitmore asked whether the person who did the work has been contacted and Park and Street Superintendent, Nick Lardy, said that he has reached out but has not received a response.

Board Member Monica Shelgren asked whether the city’s legal counsel could get involved. Lardy said that the surface is in such poor shape, the only thing the city could likely do is try to get its money back.

“As far as making it a good, usable, playable surface, it’s not going to happen,” Lardy said.

Matthew York, the city’s Public Works Director, said that in the CIP (Capital Improvement Program) discussions this year, two scenarios were brought up. One is to resurface both the pickleball and basketball courts at Veterans Park and the other is to do a total reconstruction of the pickleball court. He said the cost of each project was around $192,000.

“As it stands right now, it’s in the budget for next year, but it all depends on what comes out of the CIP when it’s finalized in December,” York said.

He aded that the council seemed to be leaning toward the full reconstruction of the pickleball/tennis courts and then hold off on the basketball court for a few years.

Whitmore asked whether there were any other locations where Fairmotnt could have a pickleball court.

“I’ve been saying this, we’re so far behind and it’s been a year and nothing has gotten done. Is it us, is it the council that keeps stalling it? Why is this process taking so long? Whitmore asked.

York said, “I think there are a lot of projects that are behind and there’s only so many funds to do these projects. If you’re looking at a different location…”

The idea of Charlotte Park was tossed out, which several board members were in favor of. However, it was pointed out that lights and bathrooms would need to be installed at the park, too.

“That’s an additional cost,” York said.

Lardy pointed out that there will still be two courts to be fixed at Veterans Park, regardless of whether new courts are installed.

Board Member Craig Nelson said it was funny Charlotte Park was mentioned because he was thinking of suggesting the city sell the park in order to raise money to specifically put toward road repair projects.

“No one uses Charlotte Park. There’s an entire city block sitting there that the city has to maintain… why can’t it be sold to a developer? A city of our size– don’t get me wrong, I’m on the Park Board– but a city our size doesn’t need 30 parks,” Nelson said.

City Council Member and Park Board liaison, Randy Lubenow, said the way it was explained to him, is that the land for Charlotte Park was donated to the city with the intention of keeping it as a park so the city cannot sell it.

Circling back to the issue of the pickleball court at Veterans Park, Whitmore said she didn’t want to start over on the project but she asked whether it would be less expensive to build four new courts. The issue of adding a bathroom and lights was again mentioned.

York said that he could ask Finance Director, Paul Hoye, whether the council could not declare where it wanted to have the courts but just allocate money for the courts and take it from there.

In closing the conversation, Shelgren said, “Fairmont needs to get pickleball courts for the general public. I think this town has the opportunity to have a very organized pickleball club.”

Crawford speculated that there is at least 50 or 60 people in town who play regularly now and he guessed that more people are wanting to play.