City staff said a recent small grant from the Grays Harbor Community Foundation funded immediate maintenance at North Bay Park’s baseball field, and that staff have applied for a larger grant from the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) to upgrade the facility to an all‑turf multipurpose field.

The staff member who coordinates park projects said the community-foundation grant (amount discussed as $5,000) paid for scraping weeds, purchasing field dirt, and small equipment (rakes, drags) and that the booster club will provide additional materials. He described the field as playable by spring and said weekly maintenance would keep it serviceable.

Staff also reported applying for a larger RCO grant category for youth athletic fields; the RCO category staff identified requires a 50% local match (staff cited a $150,000 match figure). The RCO application amount discussed in the meeting was $1.2 million. Staff said they will ask whether previously awarded local grants or community-foundation funds can count toward the RCO match and were told that other grant dollars can be applied as local match in some circumstances; staff will follow up with program officials.

Other field improvements proposed for future grants include bleachers, bullpen areas, backstop extensions, netting to stop balls from going into the road, equipment storage sheds and a manually operated scoreboard; staff said a subsequent grant application of about $30,000 would fund several of those smaller improvements.

Staff urged coordination with schools and youth leagues to increase use of the field and to pursue tournaments if facilities improve. The RCO application will be discussed further with finance and grant staff to determine whether the town can meet the match requirement or scale the request.