2022-02-22 Blair Little League Field ImprovementsBlair Little League
500 N 10th ST
Blair, NE 68008
(402) 677-5825
Bllpresident20170gmail.com
February 15, 2022
Rod Storm
City Administrator
City Hall
218 S. 16th St.
Blair, NE 68008
Dear Mr. Storm,
I just wanted to reach out and thank you again for meeting with our
organizations the other day. You helped to clear up some of the
questions we had in regards to our lease as well as helped us to
straighten out our understanding of the electricity to our complex and
how it is used, etc.
Per our conversation, I want to bring you up to speed about our
current situation. We also want to ask about the possibility of the city
further assisting the Blair Little League in terms of a financial
investment.
As you know, over the years, we have been very self-sufficient in
regards to funding for our organization. While this has been a point of
pride for the Blair Little League, it has also led to some major
challenges in terms of our baseball fields and facility. Essentially, our
organization pays all of its bills out of our registration fees, concessions
and whatever else we raise in private donations. Due to the ever
increasing costs of field maintenance, equipment, supplies, insurance,
and electricity costs, we find ourselves with very little left over to be
able to make the necessary renovations and improvements to our
fields.
One way we have tried to offset costs is through small increases to our
registration prices over the years. With our current fee levels, it has
become more difficult to cover playing costs while keeping our prices
low to ensure the participation of as many families as possible. Blair
Looking ahead, we also realize our facility has the potential to be of
even greater benefit to our community. However, we do not have the
necessary funding to make the renovations needed.
In terms of our current field structure, it is as follows; we have three
fenced fields with stationary clay based permanent mounds on them.
Over the years of field work, we have had clay and product brought in
to make repairs and build the surface, however, two of these fields
have not had the proper grading thus leading to drainage issues on
the playing surface. The three mounds also pose a problem; these
stationary mounds are all set to Little League specifications, and while
this works well for our league, it leaves our fields unavailable for
extended play teams that participate in other leagues such as USSSA
or various other Metro Leagues.
For example, we were recently contacted by the Slump Buster
Tournament which happens every summer during the time of the
CWS. They requested the use of three of our fields. However, two of
our three fields are not able to be configured in a way that would allow
them to use those fields. We had to turn away the use of these two
fields in which they wanted to host three to four games per field
Friday -Sunday for two consecutive weekends, up to 24 additional
games on top of the 12 we are able to accommodate on Hardy Field.
All of the teams that compete in this tournament are from out of town
and are out of state teams. This tournament takes place over two
weekends during June. Our hope is that, with proper field repairs, we
can not only get this tournament on the books moving forward, but
also have the fields ready to host additional tournaments.
We have a plan in place to move this development forward. This plan
involves renovating our three T -Ball fields as well as all three of our
fenced fields; Weiderquist, The Healthy Human, and Hardy Fields.
Essentially, we need to have quite a bit of product brought in to be
incorporated into all of these playing surfaces as well as the equipment
necessary to perform the repairs. We will then replace the stationary
clay mounds with portable mounds that will allow us to move them to
different distances, accommodating the varying age groups. Our T -Ball
EMEMIRIVEMMM
fields can then not only be used during league play, but used as
practice and or warm-up fields during tournament play.
This plan will not only help the Blair Little League, the City of Blair will
also be positively impacted in several ways. First our Little League
teams will have better and safer playing surfaces for our Blair and
Washington County participants and hopefully, fewer rain outs. In
addition, we will also be able to rent out our fields to teams that wish
to host tournaments on weekends. It is our hope that the increase in
tournaments will benefit the city by having people patronize our new
and current hotels as well as our local restaurants and gas stations.
Increased revenue from tournaments will also help us continue to
improve our complex with improved batting cages, field maintenance,
sprinkler systems and equipment for the Blair Little League and the
community in general.
The proposed cost to renovate these fields is $26,330, this includes
the purchase of sand, field conditioner and portable mounds. There is
no labor in this estimate as that will all be done by volunteer board
members and equipment.
We are asking for the city to join us in this significant project and
provide any level of financial support that may be possible. After this
larger investment, our playing surfaces should be up to a level that we
can maintain them year after year in our operational budget. Thank
you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Ryan Greenwood
President Blair Little League