Approvals needed for baseball fence billboards

MORRISBURG – In recent weeks, the Seaway Surge baseball club launched a fence billboard sponsorship program “to show support for local young athletes.”

This program, which was launched and advertised online through social media, is offering the opportunity purchase a 4’x8’ billboard sign. Many businesses are already on-board taking this as an opportunity to advertise themselves at baseball diamonds throughout the region.

When it was launched the Surge advertised that the signs are available for display at your choice of diamonds in Brockville, Kemptville, Smiths Falls, Morrisburg, Merrickville, Chesterville and Winchester.

However, the launch of the campaign surprised some staff members of ‘Team South Dundas.’

David Jansen, director of parks, recreation and facilities for South Dundas, was contacted by The Leader when the program was launched (March 16) and he said that the Municipality of South Dundas has not approved this program.

Asked last week about the sign program, South Dundas mayor Jason Broad, who is also president of the Seaway Surge organization, explained that the full-scale program launch was “a miscommunication”.

He explained that only the Municipality of North Grenville had approved the program and the sales were meant to only be for North Grenville area fields.

“If something is being done in Morrisburg, it will be sent to the Morrisburg Waterfront Committee for review,” said Broad.

He further added that while it would be nice to do something in Morrisburg, Morrisburg’s waterfront location could mean that whatever they do would not look like it would at other ball diamonds which are essentially surrounded by empty fields.

The Municipality of South Dundas already administers its own billboard sponsorship program at the Morrisburg arena where businesses pay a fee to rent the billboards and that fee is paid to the Municipality of South Dundas to help offset costs associated with the operation of the facility.

The fee schedule for this was set and approved by council last month.

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