Petrolia will spend $42,400 to replace the dugouts at one of the ball diamonds at the Greenwood Recreation Centre.

And the other cement block structures around town may be replaced in 2024.

On May 13, around 11:30 pm, one person was injured and taken to hospital after one of the dugouts at the secondary diamond collapsed. The director of parks and recreation told members of a committee the collapse was caused by vandalism.

The collapse didn’t come to light for weeks and when it did, town officials wouldn’t comment saying there was a police investigation.

CAO Rick Charlebois issued a statement shortly after Lambton OPP told The Independent charges wouldn’t be laid. It said one of the two dugouts collapsed and town staff took down the other “following a detailed visual inspection that determined that a few concrete blocks were loose and had the potential to pose a future risk to users.”

Monday, a report from Menzies laid out the cost to replace the missing dugouts – $21,200 each. 

The new structures will have a concrete base, steel benches and roofs and a galvanized chain link fence with medal posts around it.

The town worked with local contractors on the pricing, with David Menzies stating in his report the procurement policy was followed.

The CAO can authorize up to $50,000 but needs a formal quotation.

Council authorized the spending Monday without comment.

Acting Mayor Joel Field says council also asked staff to include funds for the six other concrete structures in town to be replaced in the 2024 budget. That would cost about $127,200.

Field says the town wants “to modernize them to bring them all up to that same standard.

“We’re going to go through and continue checking… I think a lot of (the dugouts) were built at the same time.”

Field added the other dugouts have been inspected.

“I believe the rest of them have been all checked and will be continued to be checked on the regular basis. But if there were any issues, then we would have taken them down.”

In a statement released before Canada Day, officials said; “Petrolia is committed to providing safe access to all parks, sports fields and play areas and will continue with regular inspections and maintenance.”