By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Discussion among the Glasgow Common Council members who work most closely with the city Parks and Recreation Department and the top administrator of Glasgow Independent Schools may have led to a better understanding of the needs the city and the school system have for a local baseball field.
GIS Superintendent Chad Muhlenkamp joined the Planning and Development Committee, better known as the Parks and Recreation Committee, at its special meeting Thursday evening at the department’s office along Liberty Street.
Eddie Furlong, parks and recreation director for the city, in an aside, showed Muhlenkamp a draft version of a design rendering for a resurrected John E. Richardson Stadium, which sustained major damage in a July fire. The tentative design was created as a collaboration among staff members at Alliance Corp., Glasgow High School baseball coach Sam Royse and Furlong, the last of those said.
Eddie Furlong, parks and recreation director for Glasgow, right, shows Glasgow Independent Schools Superintendent Chad Muhlenkamp some tentative designs for the rebuilding of Richardson Stadium at Gorin Park on Thursday. Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
He discussed with him the plan to put the bathrooms immediately adjacent to the ballpark in Gorin Park but with the entry to them outside of it so they can be used even when a game is not taking place.
“In the fire, obviously, a lot of our electrical got burned up,” Furlong said to the committee and guest. “We need somebody to come in and tell us where those wires run and if those wires are still good.”
Furlong said that he had received a quote from one company for up to a certain amount to do that portion of the work. He also had received a quote from another company to create the engineering plans for lighting and reconfigured wiring, he said. There is no lighting on the field currently.
Both of those services had been advertised for bids, and none were received, he said, so he was then allowed to solicit quotes.
The city clerk was planning to advertise in the coming week for vendors to bid to do Phase 1 work, which includes building a new backstop area, he said.
Councilwoman Chasity Lowery, who chairs the committee and is also an employee of GIS, recused herself from any discussions between the city and the school system representative just as the one of the primary questions was about to be asked of Muhlenkamp.
“Where does the school system stand with the usage of that field?” asked Councilman Terry Bunnell. “What we’re trying to do now is to get the field back in shape where it can be played on, it can be used, and make it safe. But looking out three, five years, is the school system committed to Gorin Park for baseball?”
Muhlenkamp said that as the GIS’ board of education votes and moves through various discussions, the position could change from whatever he would say at this meeting, because it’s ultimately their decision. With that caveat issued, though, he said that looking at where they currently sit within their district facilities plan and approvals required from the Kentucky Department of Education, he believed they would need to use the facility for at least the next few years.
“If we started today, with the KDE process and all that, even if we were doing something, we couldn’t have something within three years, you know, four years,” Muhlenkamp said, “and that would be pushing the process all the way through, even if we had the financial capacity to be able to do it.”
Councilman Patrick Gaunce asked whether he thought he could safely agree that the school system has “bigger rocks in front of [it] than building a baseball stadium.”
The superintendent answered in the affirmative.
“I’ll express the same thing that’s been expressed to me and, I think, all of you all: The location currently is a concern from the safety component of things, with situations that have happened over the past couple of seasons. That’s one of the only reasons why the board even has had conversations or it’s even been brought up at all. It is historic [Sam Royse] field. It is a nice place …,” he said.
The school board is concerned with how they can look out for the safety of their students overall, Muhlenkamp.
“That’s kind of the long answer, but the short end of it is, the district is committed to the agreement with the city to be able to continue to use that facility for the sheer fact that that’s what we have,” he said.
Gaunce somewhat rhetorically asked where, over the next five to 10 years, they would play if not there, and based on other needs the district has, he said, he couldn’t envision its moving elsewhere in less than 10 years.
“Like I said,” Muhlenkamp responded, “I can’t speak for the board, but I think that’s a fair assessment. It would be a long-term component. We’re in the process of [updating] our facilities plan now, and that is something that’s being put on our facilities plan, at least that way, if something ever did happen – if it’s not on the plan, we can’t even consider it.”
He noted the construction of a new facility at South Green Elementary School and that it has an impact on the bonding capacity that would also be a variable.
“I feel like we, you know, the partnership, from our end, is still very beneficial and that we would like to continue it for the …,”
As he paused, Furlong said, “whatever that timeframe is.”
Bunnell, though, asked him whether the could provide a timeframe – a range of years.
“I really don’t see, at least in five years, us being able to potentially do something,” Muhlenkamp said. “[W]ith where our current circumstance and situation are, … five years, I think, would be very easy for me to feel comfortable saying and not putting the board in a corner, because again, you know, I’m speaking kind of from a district standpoint, but they ultimately get the say in that.”
Bunnell explained the reason for the question is that they need to know how the stadium should be designed — whether it needs to be of a standard for regular use by a high school team as compared to general community use.
Bunnell said the city is committed to working toward getting the field usable by mid-March, when GHS begins its baseball season so the team can play there, and that’s why they’re engaging in the activities Furlong mentioned earlier, such as getting quotes.
“It just helps us in making decisions about long-term usage of that space,” Bunnell said.
Furlong restated that commitment, noting the facility won’t be as it was by the season opener, and they may have temporary bleachers, but that’s definitely the aim.
Muhlenkamp said he and Royse had talked about the possibility of just being “road warriors” if necessary, but for those kids, when you can play and have a spot, even if it’s different, it still means a lot to have that home location.”
Bunnell had complimented the condition of the field and Royse’s work on it before he broached another aspect of the question that has been bandied about off and on for years.
“What’s the possibility, Chad, of us reaching an agreement on a lease for that facility? As you know, the school system has not paid any lease for that park, or the baseball field, to the city,” he asked.
Muhlenkamp said he thinks everything is on the table as an option for consideration, but one thing that comes into play from their standpoint is that KDE has to be involved and make a determination on what they think would be a fair and equitable amount, and he said he’s sparked some of those conversations. One possibility he mentioned was the school system’s being responsible for the field conditions and costs associated with that while the city would be responsible for the actual structure portion.
The prior week, he said, he had received a sort of checklist from KDE with items that would need to be documented, although it’s generally used in cases where the district is the one leasing to another party rather than the other way around.
He, the committee and even the board could agree to something, Muhlenkamp said, but KDE could nix it all.
As the discussion drew toward a conclusion, the consensus appeared to be that each party would come up with a proposal of what they would like to see.
Muhlenkamp said that now that he has that list from KDE, he could craft something that he believes would be within their parameters.
The rest of the meeting, which took a little longer than this portion, for a total of a little more than an hour, involved some information on procuring bathrooms for parks and other general updates.
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