Now that the funding for the new elementary school at the Pyramid Centre has been secured, the future of the two existing elementary schools — Arthur Meighen and Central — are up for debate. But the Central school could have a new tenant — the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. At a recent board meeting, Ball Hall CEO Tom Valcke brought forward the idea of using the 96-year-old building as office and museum space — and, with some renovations, as a dormitory, which has long been part of the Ball Hall’s plan to maintain financial viability. Valcke notes the idea originally came from a discussion between himself, Perth Wellington MPP John Wilkinson, and Jamie Hahn. “It’s not a secret,” Valcke says of the plan. “I think it’s a terrific idea, but it’s just a challenge to make it work.” The first issue at hand is whether the Ball Hall can actually secure the building; the Avon Maitland District School Board, which owns the facility, has to offer it to other school boards first, and then to municipalities and other potential buyers. Secondly — the true market value of the building, which was estimated to be approximately $500,000 in the board’s prohibitive-to-repair applications in 2006, has not yet been determined. Valcke says that the Ball Hall has approximately “$2 million (in donations) to play with — and I think we can get in there for that.” He notes that a lot of renovating would have to take place to make the site work as an attractive museum and dormitory, but that this amount would likely be less than the estimated $10 million it would cost to build a dormitory and administrative facilities on the current ball hall site on Church Street South. While Valcke admits that the Central site is a bit of a distance from the existing Hall of Fame field, its proximity to the Pyramid Centre, downtown and DCVI make it attractive for other potential users. Valcke gives the example of a recent Ringette tournament in town, which saw 11 teams requiring overnight accommodations — only one team stayed in town. “I’ve got a gut feeling that says that St. Marys could really become a ‘tourney town’ if we had a dorm,” Valcke says. The idea was well received at the meeting, Valcke says, which was seconded by Coun. Marg Luna, who brought it up at the Dec. 9 meeting of town council, who added that “the idea might attract more donation money” to the ball hall, and possibly some government retrofitting funding. Valcke says that the next thing to do is get an idea of Central School’s operating costs, and to speak to council on issues such as zoning and ownership.