New basketball court coming to Mattawa

MATTAWA — Mattawa’s Hund Memorial Park will get a new basketball court through a partnership between the city and the Paul Lauzier Foundation.

Mattawa City Council members approved the purchase of basketball hoops for the project at a regular meeting Thursday. Public Works Director Juan Ledesma said buying hoops was part of the city’s responsibility for the project.

“How it’s built into the bid packet was that we would provide (the hoops) for them,” Ledesma said.

The $125,000 grant was awarded to the city in 2022, with the city contributing $10,000 toward the project.

“In the grant application (the city requested) a fence, basketball court, four tables - all of those are ADA accessible - six benches, and I think there were four trash cans,” Lesdema said.

The council approved the purchase of two hoops with aluminum backboards which can be adjusted from seven to 10 feet. The cost was about $6,500.

“The biggest thing I hear is that the (basketball) rims in the park are horrible,” said council member Brian Berghout.

An upgraded court with better hoops will attract more people to the park, he said.

“Are (the basketball courts) going to have lights?” asked council member Tony Acosta.

“No, they’re not going to have lights,” Ledesma said.

“The park closes at dusk,” Berghout said.

“By having lights we would basically be encouraging kids to be out there,” Ledesma said. “We don’t want to encourage people to be in the park after hours.”

City public works employees will install the hoops, the benches, tables and garbage cans, Ledesma wrote in a memo to council members.

Berghout said he thought the courts would benefit city residents young and old.

“We’re talking about a location in the city that drives a lot of community to it, of all ages. The community would really enjoy this and find benefit in it,” Berghout said.

Council members also approved the purchase of security cameras for the city’s water and wastewater treatment facilities. Cost was estimated at about $26,000 for the two systems.

Acosta noted the cameras will be purchased from a different vendor than the one that provided the system at Mattawa City Hall. He asked why, and Ledesma said the cameras recommended for the water and sewer facilities would be more secure than the city’s hall’s system.

The camera storage system is located off-site, he said, and could be accessed in the case of a fire or theft at either facility.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.