The Blytheville Baseball Facilities Board met Wednesday to hear claims that the Blytheville Baseball Softball Boosters organization is not complying with its contract with the city of Blytheville.
BBSB president Jonathan Howard told the Facilities Board that he didn’t have financials to present but he was in contact with city attorney Chris Brown and BBSB attorneys. Facilities Board president David Hixson asked Howard what was prolonging presenting the BBSB financials to the board, and Howard responded that the financial reports seemed to be the only thing in the contract that was getting enforced.
Blytheville City Councilwoman Barbara Brothers said, “I’d like to also see where the hotel/motel tax gave $12,000 for tournaments, a breakdown of how that was utilized. We had two tournaments with a total of 30 teams because that is taxpayers’ money, that’s tax money, not donation.”
Howard explained that it was a grant and added that they BBSB did not apply for it, so it was not received.
Hixson asked Howard when the BBSB board meets. Howard said during the season, most of the board is together every night so board members talk “on a need-be basis;” however, when they can get enough members together they meet during the offseason at least once a month.
“If we’re going to bring up the contract, we’re going to have to bring up a whole bunch of other things too that are not being agreed to in the contract. On the financial part, I can understand a little bit because that is my area…I’m not saying they shouldn’t provide, they should provide, but you have to understand if you’re wanting (June’s financials) it’s going to take a while. They have full-time jobs,” Facilities Board member Trey Speight said. “They’re giving their time out there, and they're not paying Thomas, Speight, and Noble to do them to have it done in a certain time…It just seems reasonable to me, I’m not saying that they are going to do this, but it would come at a time when the leagues and a few of the tournaments are over with.”
“The question I have is why [is the BBSB] the only ones,” Howard said.
Brothers responded, “Well, Jonathan, the golf course has to…”
“I’m not talking about the golf course, I’m talking about at the Sportsplex,” Howard interrupted.
“You’re the only ones at the Sportsplex,” Brothers said.
BBSB board member Kenny Riggs then stated, “What [Jonathan] is trying to say is we are the only one being held to this contract…During our league, we went out there one day and every field but one field, that had a softball game on it, had a Faultline team on it.”
Brothers said she wasn’t aware of that happening.
Howard asked, “Where is their contract? We signed a contract on April 2. Then why didn’t the Facilities Board immediately start drawing up contracts with all the other groups that utilize the park?”
Hixson added, “There were breaches of contracts. It happened, big time okay. Now we knew that would probably go on and we made this contract and we talked about, ‘all right we’re going to etch this in stone. After seeing what happens we will modify what we need to modify to make it a little bit more legit.’ But yes, there were some things that went on out there that shouldn’t have gone on based off the contract. Okay, so there were people that were out there using the field that shouldn’t have been.”
Brothers stated that teams are supposed to go through Hixson to use the Sportsplex, which was discussed at a prior meeting. Hixson stated some did and some didn’t. Blytheville Mayor James Sanders assistant Cody Wyatt asked who would police or enforce those instances.
Hixson said it needs to be stated that if someone is out there without authorization they should be fined.
Board member Len Whitehead added it needs to be posted because there is no way to contact everyone who needs to be contacted.
Whitehead also asked if the problem was mostly dealing with practices. He said there are fields on the old air base that aren’t in practice condition but could be fixed up. Hixson stated he had already driven everyone around and noted different place to practice, including the fields at the base.
Hixson added that Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority president Barrett Harrison has granted permission to use those fields.
Board member Jeff Hollingsead said, “We need to manage the situation, and we need to manage it fast that way it becomes part of the standard and the normal, year after year. I agree with Len [Whitehead] it has to be posted. You don’t go to Joe Mack Campbell in Jonesboro and go on a Saturday and have to take your team to practice. See what happens. The cops are going to show up and they’re going to do something about it. The reason why people don’t go to Joe Mack on Saturday is that it is part of the standard and the normal. We have to get to that point. I’ve been reading the paper for I don’t know, 10 months now, and it’s Faultline this and this and that. We need to set something…up on the field saying the fields are closed and it’s property of local BBSB teams and give a contact number or something. We have to start somewhere and make it part of that normal.”
Brothers added that a family member was never allowed to play on a team because he was not “good enough.” Howard responded by saying that was a travel team, not the league team.
“We have to be really careful with this whole thing because my mind and my focus is travel ball is a secondary,” Hollingsead explained. “There’s a lot of kids that live in Blytheville that won’t get the opportunity to play local league baseball if BBSB falls apart. I’m just telling you we need to be really cautious. It’s first and foremost; it is about the local kids. I could care less about the local travel teams, whoever wants to put a business in town and use the fields. It’s about the local kids. I had seven of them on my team this year that won’t be able to play baseball if the league falls apart. We need to be really careful, and we need to manage the situation with those kids in mind.”
Brothers stated that the city is down to $200,000 in a CD for Parks and Recreation. She stated that the city needs to figure out how to make revenue at the Sportsplex.
All present at the meeting agreed that Blytheville had multiple places to practice for any potential team. Brothers said that fixing places up for practice would be a great fall project. Hixson stated he wishes it could be a community project, and that both adults and children could take pride in the places to practice.
Local citizen Keith Griffin said, “The facility needs to be used more…We have a facility that’s nice that is used less than any other facility in the state of Arkansas…”
Howard responded that it was once used year round but the fall league was cut out due to participation.
The participation dropped because of football and soccer.
According to the contract, BBSB has sole possession of the field from Feb. 1 through July 31. Riggs stated that date could possibly be moved up to the end of June or early July.
Wyatt then asked about what park improvements have been done or are in the process of being done. Hixson stated the league is in agreement to buy new catching gear and helmets for the children and new nets for the batting cages. He added that the BBSB, the city, and other entities could come together and buy new nets or other equipment
Wyatt asked about a co-ed Softball program, saying she was waiting on the green light from the Facilities Board. Wyatt said she has a lot of support and would only play during the week. The only hold up is getting clearance from the Facilities Board before she creates a board for the program.
Whitehead stated before the co-ed softball is done there needs to be a contract, such as a contract between the city and BBSB.
Wyatt stated that the Fairgrounds board is serious about bringing a field back at the Fairgrounds and permanently making it an adult softball field. So the co-ed softball program may only need the Sportsplex for one season. Howard stated that if a group of people worked together they could fix the fields at the base, if the Sportsplex wasn’t available.
Several years ago, the old YMCA on the base hosted a co-ed softball league.
Wyatt asked, “So what you’re saying is go to Barrett [Harrison], get his blessing and then the people that want to run this league to cut the grass and do it. Correct?”
Hixson agreed.
“That sounds good to me. I love more activity going on at the base because there is obviously not enough going on,” Wyatt said.
The board approved Wyatt’s request.