Bid accepted for softball field renovation

Frank Leeds Construction Co. of Havre was the low bidder to construct improvements to the slow-pitch softball fields near the U.S. Border Patrol headqarters south of Havre.

The company bid 63,439 for the project which will be funded by a state grant funneled through the city.

Havre City Council approved the low bid Monday night. The state has to approve the bid as well.

Mayor Tim Solomon said the money will be made to improve the field’s condition and build sidewalks that comply with laws guaranteeing that disabled people will be allowed to use them.

“It will vastly improve things,” Solomon said.

In other business at the session, Gerald D’Hooge told council they should rethink their support for Fire Chief Tim Hedges in his dispute with the International Fire Fighters Association.

The union and management are at odds over a written reprimand given to firefighter D.J. Olsen.

He said the city was wasting its money by defending the chief who reprimanded the firefighter for insubordination. The matter is headed to arbitration.

In fact, he said, Olsen was written up because he wrote a letter to City Clerk and Finance Director Doug Kaercher complaining of what he said was misconduct by Assistant Chief Norm Paulson. Hedges then reprimanded Olsen as retaliation, D’Hooge said.

The matters covered in the reprimand were minor and inconsequential, he said, and they took place months earlier.