City council moves forward with baseball, softball, pool seasons

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Yes on the pool and yes on baseball and softball.

The Seward City Council voted to continue with plans to open the pool in July during its May 19 meeting.

Council members discussed ways to keep the pool and its equipment sanitized, limit crowd sizes and maintain the recommended six feet of social distance between patrons.

“The question is do you want it open or not,” Mayor Josh Eickmeier said. “If yes, we will figure out a way to do it. We need a thumbs up or thumbs down, and we’ll figure out the details.”

“Staff are excited to have the possibility of opening,” Adam Bode of the city recreation department said.

“We are ready to go as soon as it’s OK,” Bob Core, public works director, said.

“If there are concerns, we need to know now so we could let the staff go and shut down,” City Administrator Greg Butcher said.

The council agreed to move forward with the pool opening with more details to come later.

City Attorney Kelly Hoffschneider told the council waivers signed by pool patrons would be a good idea. Council members thought limiting access to patrons with passes only might be a good way to maintain attendance numbers.

Another suggestion was for patrons to make reservations for certain time slots.

Core said it will take about 10 days to fill and heat the pool and balance the chemicals before it opens.

When it comes to on land activities, the council agreed to go ahead with opening the city’s ball fields to practice for baseball and softball June 1, following the state’s guidelines. Games are allowed starting June 18.

Teams will have to follow the Directed Health Measure requirements for sanitizing dugouts and bleachers and maintaining six feet of distance between the players.

Fans attending games must bring their own seating and space themselves. Once a game is finished, the team must leave – no postgame meetings or even congratulating the other team.

Most baseball and softball families are OK with single games, according to representatives from the Seward Softball Association and Junior Jays Baseball.

Tournaments, however, raise more concerns. Rich Eber, president of the SSA, said Seward is scheduled to host a tournament featuring almost 40 teams on Father’s Day weekend.

“I don’t know how comfortable I am with that,” he said. “Teams come from all over. We need to make sure we do what’s best for the city and our kids.”

Tim Janousek echoed that and suggested practices and a handful of games in June and see how that goes.

“Then see if we want to continue,” he said.

Seward is scheduled to host a USSSA softball tournament in July, Bode said. He said the city wants to give organizers a chance to reschedule if necessary.

“We don’t want to leave them hanging,” he said.

Butcher said T-ball games through city rec are canceled for the summer.