The City of Twinsburg does a very good job of maintaining 17 diamonds throughout the City for our youth baseball/softball programs (rec league and travel). Our field prep takes place from 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The leagues are independent organizations and feel we should do an even better job so that games are NEVER rained out. The City has budget, union and insurance issues that keep us from meeting their demands. (The possibility of a series of domes is one of those budget issues).
At this time, the league has found a tree and one of the Board members has some rope in his garage. They are giving me until May 1st to make sure all their games will be played. To keep me from being hung, please take a few minutes to answer a few questions. I especially need help from those of you working in a suburb of Cleveland since the Board tells me games are never cancelled when they visit your City. If you are willing, I would love to know the same information in regards to other programs such as soccer, football and swimming. Thank you for your time!!! Let me know if you would like to see the results of the information I receive. 1) Is the youth baseball/softball program an independent league or City sponsored program? Or a combination depending on the level? 2) Who owns the fields that the league plays on? 3) If the City owns the fields, what is the population of the City and how many fields do you maintain? 4) Does the City do ALL or SOME of the maintenance to the ball diamonds for the youth baseball/softball program? If not, who is responsible for the maintenance? (i.e. volunteers from the league, independent contractors or ???) If Independent Contractors are used, who pays them? 5) Are any of the fields owned by the school system? If so, who maintains the school fields used by these programs? 6) Does the City have one or more crews that work every evening and on weekends that attend to the fields before and in between games? We are guessing that with 17 fields, we would need about 4 crews. 7) Who schedules the use of your fields? Do the leagues get priority scheduling? 8) Other than taxes, is a fee charged to the league to provide them with your service and a field reservation? 9) Does the league handle all of their registration and do all of their own marketing or does the City assist in any way? 10) Are there "non-residents" playing in the league? If so, approximately what percentage of players are non-residents? Do they pay more (or different) than the residents? 11) Who determines if games are cancelled? 12) Is the league responsible to purchase infield mix or maintenance supplies? 13) Are any of the coaches or league officials receiving compensation? If so, from whom? 14) Does the City provide free use of facilities and equipment to conduct Board and parent's meetings? 15) Are there any additional budgetary issues that you can share with me that you feel are unique to your City and the organizations that use your facilities? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME and GO BUCKEYES!!! Jim Seikel Parks & Recreation Director City of Twinsburg 10075 Ravenna Rd Twinsburg, OH 44087 330-963-8722 fax: 330-963-8713 www.twinsburgrecreation.com
