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Opinion
There's plenty of controversy about Middletown Youth Soccer (MYS) and a proposed artificial turf field it wants to build on Country Club Road, because the elected leadership of the city passed an ordinance that made it clear that the city should not install artificial turf fields in City Parks.
MYS is presently leasing this property for $1 a year and per their lease they are responsible for paying for improvements to the park, including a concession stand, parking lot, and lights.
But, is MYS really paying for them? Apparently not. We are.
As the city spends $1M to cover the obligations of MYS, MYS is planning to spend $750,000 to install an artificial turf field in the same city park.
The background, with documents
From the minutes of the October 10th Public Works Commission meeting:
Director Russo stated that the Country Club Road soccer facility is going to be undergoing phase one of construction. Phase one includes the parking lot, restrooms and the concession stand.
Mike Doherty and Vince McDermott of the consulting firm Milone and MacBroom presented a memo describing the phasing of the work at this Commission meeting. This work would cost the city over $1M to complete, according to Milone and MacBroom's 2015 evaluation of the city's parks. This money is coming from a Bond that specified that none of the money could be used for artificial turf.Since July of 2011, MYS has had exclusive rights to use the large fields, in exchange for paying rent. The rent specified in this lease includes "Parking lot paving", "Construction of Restroom Facilities", and "Concession Stand".
Four months prior to the signing of the lease, the city agreed to take over construction of the fields, at a cost of $355,0000, because MYS was under "financial strain" (Middletown Press article).
The Public Works Commission meets in Room 208 of City Hall, at 7PM, tonight, March 13.
3 comments:
This gets more and more ridiculous. Why is this allowed to happen in Middletown? We need public officials who stand up for what we voted for. This is a violation of public trust and it just seems to be the norm in Middletown. Thank you for sharing this information.
Back in 2015, many of those now complaining led the charge in urging Middletown residents to vote for the parks bonding project, despite the fact that so many details were up in the air, including a clear plan for how the bond money would be used. In general, the sports community in Middletown was against the bonding project, as there was no clear budget for each park, no clear proposal as to which areas would be improved, and no guarantee of additional fields. To be clear, the parks referendum barely passed - with almost 7,000 votes cast, it passed by 210 votes (per November 2015 Middletown Eye report). Now, despite a legal opinion that MYS is operating within the terms of its lease (per prior Eye report), people are crying foul. Perhaps the time to ask questions was back in 2015, when everyone was more excited about getting a splash pad than they were about asking for details. Questions like under the terms of existing leases, can turf fields be installed on city land so long as the parks bond money is not used? It sounds like the answer to that question is yes.
Under Dan Drew's administration, he speaks one thing and does the other...as does the Common Council. The lies to get what THEY want, and deals behind closed doors is not the way to do the PEOPLES business. The voters told them clearly what they wanted, the Council voted on them, then the Mayor and Director reneged on them. Clearly a violation of the Ordinance and Bond and the peoples trust. Keep on voting the same people in office, and this is what you end up with; "they feel their above the law!"
As for soccer tournaments, Middletown sees little money from them. The athletes and families are a quarter mile from I-95 and stay in Cromwell not Middletown. Other businesses in Cromwell do well due to MYS' tournaments, not downtown (Middletown businesses. Middletown Chamber of Commerce has to hold their monthly breakfast meetings in Cromwell because there is no place in Middletown large enough to do so.) All the hot air coming from MYS is not only from the soccer balls. MYS leaders earns good entrance fee money from these tournaments, that's why they want them played here.
Soccer is a good sport as are all others, but please don't try to sell the public a bill of goods that it's just "for the children".
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