VALLEY GRANDE —In their regular council meeting, Valley Grande Mayor Wayne Labbe discussed the proposal of using grant monies and tax dollars to add lights and various other amenities to the Valley Grande baseball fields. The proposal will be voted on in the city’s next meeting, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 21.

“We’re going to bid this out and get lighting for our ball fields, that way we can expand the use of our ball fields,” Labbe said.

Because several baseball leagues use the fields, Labbe explained that adding lights would allow for more use of the fields at night.

“After the lights we would like to add bleachers, score boards, announcing booths and concessions,” he said.

Funding for the project would come from tax dollars designated for capital improvements and a portion of a $30,000 grant.

Labbe said that he aims to get the project off the ground before the grant deadline expires.

“The project will take anywhere from eight to 10 weeks,” he said. “Once we get the bids up we should be good to go.”

The tax money that will be used to fund the project will be from alcohol sales, Labbe explained, which are part of a special tax fund.

“It’s a restricted fund,” he said. “We can’t pay our bills with it, we can only use it for capital improvements, like the ball field.”

Once the project is completed, Labbe said the baseball fields would attract more travel baseball leagues and thus potentially bring in more revenue for the city.

“That’s going to be one of our primary projects in the next few years is getting that done,” he said. “The previous administration did a fabulous job of getting it started and I think we need to finish it up.”