War Memorial Stadium Advisory Board

PENINSULA STADIUM AUTHORITY Minutes from February 5, 2018 The meeting was called to order by Jim Wilson, Chair. Others in attendance included Frank Feagan, Wayne Gomes, Sallie Marchello, Lola Perkins, Ruth Simmons, Tim Smith, Brenda Stokes, Pat Uribes, and AG Womble from the board and Henry Morgan, Hank Morgan, and Darren Nicely (consultant) from Community Baseball. Minutes of the December 4, 2017 meeting were approved. The Treasurer's report was accepted. No checks have been written since December 1st and we have earned a little interest. Jim and Henry have met with City officials. The Council especially wants the field graded properly for drainage. They are not prepared to pay for artificial turf at this point. Hank and Jim were at the January meeting with Council where they said we have $3,600 000 forcapital improvements. We hope to put the pavilion out for bid by May. Drainage and piping have risen the projected cost of the pavilion to $200,000.We will be consulted and, hopefully, construction will start during the season. During the off season, we hope to work before the 2019 season to do field, parking, and grandstand steel framing. Anything saved on these projects will be used for restrooms. Work on the field and parking will probably begin after August. Henry would like for the park to be more functional and productive without disturbing the history. He would like to bring taxes for the City to the $100,000 level. Seven tournaments have been scheduled. It is necessary to take water off the field because it will not go down. Henry would like to leverage the drainage money for a turf field which would cost about $850,000. The shipyard needs the artificial turf. Maintenance costs would be reduced from $60,000 annually to $30,000. Except for a few specific areas, the artificial turf should last 12-15 years. For the sake of the fans, Henry would also like to bring fiber optics to the new building. They have done interviews for a manager and will do two more. Darren is currently working on a consulting basis. Hank says the right field fencing has been completed. Some drains have been put in and grading done. We will need to have a temporary bull pen for the Apprentice School schedule. The stadium history work is on hold. There has been a meeting with a virtual reality company, and something interactive may be done. It was suggested that documentation be done on games not able to be played due to weather in hopes that would persuade Council to help with artificial turf. We need to get specifications for the parking lot and find out more about drainage before getting bids for paving and parking. Frank is working on the parking issue and provided his new email address. We may invite someone from procurement to a future meeting.