Photo: City of Kamloops

A slo-pitch field at the Tournament Capital Ranch.

The City of Kamloops is suing a local man who allegedly rented multiple city sports fields for softball games and a tournament, but didn’t pay the municipality despite collecting thousands in registration fees.

In a notice of claim filed Thursday in Kamloops provincial court, the City of Kamloops said Dylan Smith owes the municipality just under $10,000 — which includes the cost of two rental permits plus interest.

“The city provided the defendant with use of the softball fields to conduct his league games and tournament. The defendant collected league dues from 20 participating teams for a total of $14,000, yet the defendant did not make payment to the city,” the document alleges.

“This was a misappropriation of funds paid in trust to the defendant.”

According to the court document, in February 2022, Smith rented multiple city softball fields at the Tournament Capital Ranch for a slo-pitch tournament happening in late September of the same year. The permit cost $3,981.

The notice of claim said on July 2022, Smith contracted the city again to rent various softball fields throughout Kamloops for a Sunday slo-pitch league, happening in August and September. This permit cost an additional $4,003.92.

The city alleges Smith collected $700 payments for 20 participating teams in order to pay for the league and tournament costs — ending up with $14,000 in registration fees.

“The softball league games and tournament did, in fact, occur at the city’s facilities throughout August and September 2022. The defendant misappropriated the registration fees, failing to make payment to the city,” the court document said.

The city claims it contacted Smith by email on three separate dates in 2022, telling him payment for the two permits was overdue — and on each of the dates, Smith acknowledged money was owing and promised payment.

According to the court document, the city’s lawyer advised the defendant in February if he didn’t pay the outstanding fees plus the interest he owed, the municipality would go to the courts to recover its losses.

“To date, the city has not received payment from the defendant,” the document said.

According to the City of Kamloops, as of March 6, the amount owing with interest totals $9,998.54.

The city is seeking to claim the total cost, plus filing fees — a total of $10,154.54.

Castanet Kamloops reached out to Smith for comment but did not hear back by deadline.

None of the allegations in the claim have been proven in court.