As Bainbridge grows, so are the number of opportunities for fun within the city, according to an annual report given by Leisure Services Director Al Kelley at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Perhaps the most successful and fastest-growing program organized by Bainbridge Leisure Services is its youth baseball and softball leagues.

The youth leagues begin their 2009 season this coming week, boasting 900 kids participating on 60 teams, Kelley said. In addition, about 200 parents are signed up to help volunteer with coaching and team support. Fourteen teams in this year’s league will be playing tee-ball, a figure Kelley said could be a good sign for future participation in Leisure Services’ softball and baseball leagues.

That’s a good thing, because land has been cleared for the future home of six new baseball/softball fields, as well as eight basketball courts and two multipurpose fields off Cox Avenue. The site will be the third phase of the city’s Bill Reynolds Sports Park.

The coming season will also continue innovations Leisure Services has picked up to make the best use of the city’s current ballfields. Portable fences can be brought in so that fields normally used for adult coed softball can be configured to have more shallow outfields to be suitable for youth play, Kelley said.

Portable pitching mounds, used for baseball, can be dragged on top of flat dirt patches used by softball pitchers to let girls and boys play on the same field, he said.

Bainbridge Leisure Services will kick off its 2009 baseball and softball seasons with an opening ceremony on Monday, March 30, at 5:30 p.m. at the sports park.

Other Business

In other business, the council:

Approved a resolution of support for Ridgefield Place, L.P., who is planning to develop a 44-home single-family subdivision off Hubert Dollar Drive. The partners behind the proposed development recently opened up Pine Ridge Estates, a multi-family apartment complex across the street on Hubert Dollar Drive.

Followed a suggestion of Mayor Mark Harrell to fill a vacancy on the Gilbert H. Gragg Library board of directors, the council unanimously approved the appointment of Deborah Higdon to replace Sarah Baldwin.

Bids and Bills

The council unanimously approved the following bids and bills:

Bills: $3,535 of Irwin & Mahaffey Construction of Watkinsville, Ga., for installation of swimming pool equipment.

Bids: $6,495.71 of GT Distributors of Rossville, Ga., for body armor to be used by Public Safety; $27,427.95 from Lewis Steel Works of Wrens, Ga., for 4-yard and 8-yard containers front-end loading garbage containers; $18,185 from Delta Tire of Bainbridge for replacement of inventory stock; and $11,650 from RCS Productions of Fayetteville, Ga., for services related to Danielle Peck concert on July 4.