Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Soccer Fields: I've Got Questions



The spate of recent reporting on Middletown's soccer fields, here and elsewhere, has got me asking questions.  Here is my list:

1.  In response to an outcry on the part of residents, the mayor and the city took action to preclude the spending of bond money on artificial turf in 2015.   It is no secret that the residents opposed artificial turf in general, not just the expenditure of city funds on it.  What is the current position of the mayor and members of the Common Council on this matter?  Have they changed their minds?

2.  At issue has been the lack of sufficient playing time for the needs of youth soccer players.  This is an important point.  Why haven't solutions to this problem been found in the years that have gone by since the issue was raised?  Or do solutions exist, but they are just not preferred by the soccer organizations?

3.  It seems that the Middletown Youth Soccer organization is spending its own money on the new artificial turf field at Country Club Road.  Its 25-year lease with the city also obliges it to "diligently pursue the construction of" improvements such as lighting, bleachers, and pavement.  So why is the city now taking responsibility for these improvements?  The appearance is that the city is indirectly installing artificial turf by taking over Middletown Youth Soccer's other financial responsibilities.

4.  In 2016, Middletown Youth Soccer had half a million dollars in the bank, and was accumulating money at a good clip.  How wealthy would a sports club need to be to be held to the terms of its lease?

5.  Why is the city complicating the situation further right now by proposing puzzling changes to the way fields are made available to teams, including Middletown Youth Soccer?



For those who are interested, let me add a little more information to bring my questions into sharper focus.

1.  Noisy opposition to artificial turf occurred in 2015 after it became known that, at the recommendation of consultants,  the city was proposing to float a bond to create nine artificial turf fields in the city.  Some didn't want their children playing on artificial grass; some opposed the use of ground up tires on public health grounds; some noted the environmental impact; and some were opposed to the additional expense of maintaining artificial turf fields.  The city council was split in its response, but with the additional vote of the mayor, mention of artificial turf was dropped from the bonding initiative.  At that time, Mayor Drew said
...we can build more grass fields than turf fields to meet demand and do so for less money. These changes will do three major things that will benefit our community:
1. Save the taxpayers $3.5 million in bonded debt.
2. Give us up to six additional playing fields, which Milone and Macbroom says will meet the capacity needs of our leagues. 
3. Enable us to ensure that all fields are grass and that they are properly constructed with appropriate drainage and irrigation systems that will make the maintenance process easier and less expensive in the long runWe will have more grass fields for less money, ensuring that our parks bond is environmentally and fiscally sustainable while meeting and exceeding the needs of our community’s sports leagues.
That sounds pretty convincing.  It has been understood since then that none of the proceeds from that bond would be used for artificial turf.  Is that just a technicality that now must be worked around?  If so, what changed?  The minutes of of the Public Works Commission certainly make it seem as though the ordinance language is just a nuisance that must be circumvented.

2.  Given the above, I really don't understand why there isn't enough playing surface in Middletown for all the Middletown soccer teams that want to play.  Not only did the city secure bond money, with the mayor's pledge to create additional natural turf fields as needed; in addition, in its 2011 lease with the city, Middletown Youth Soccer agreed "At such time as Parks and Recreation will need to maintain additional fields for for soccer above the current number of 23 [sic] fields, then MYS will negotiate a reasonable contribution towards maintenance costs...."  So it seems that adequate natural turf was provided for in 2011 and 2015.  What happened?

A look at the 2019 calendar of Middletown Youth Soccer shows heavy use of the fields on Country Club Road and very little use of those on Long Hill Road.  Is that because the latter are heavily used by other soccer groups, or just because MYS prefers the Country Club Road location?  As you can see from the sign at the top of this post, the city seems to think these are Middletown Youth Soccer's fields even though they barely use them.  They are certainly more conveniently located for the majority of Middletown's residents than the far-flung Country Club Road fields, out near Route 91, yet they are dramatically underutilized.

Is it because those fields present themselves poorly at present?  On March 13, the fields on Long Hill Road were under snow, but the approach to the fields looked like this:


As an aside, I note that there is silt fence that seems inadequate, resulting in erosion that looks to be in urgent need of attention:

3. In July 2011, the city leased the soccer fields at Country Club Road to Middletown Youth Soccer for $1 per year for 25 years.  The lease states
In exchange for a 25 year lease, MYS will diligently pursue the construction of the following improvements:
  • Install lighting on soccer fields on Country Club Road
  • Fencing all around four fields
  • Parking lot paving
  • Concession stand
  • Construction of Restroom Facilities
  • Installation of a Scoreboard
  • Installation of Bleachers
After seven and a half years, have any of these improvements have been completed?  Why is the city taking over responsibility for them now?  Middletown Youth Soccer has exclusive rights to the fields, granted in their lease.  No one else is permitted to use these fields on the city-owned property of Smith Park.

Also interesting to note is that MYS received a state grant in 2010 in the amount of $150,000 for precisely these improvements.

Despite all this, MYS has now broken ground at Country Club Road on a new artificial turf field.

4.  In 2011, Middletown Youth Soccer was able to get the city to appropriate $355,000 to complete its unfinished soccer fields on Long Hill Road, citing "financial strain" as the reason it could not complete the project without the city's help.  But just three years later, MYS had more than this amount on hand, and in 2016 it had more than a half million dollars in the bank.  Interestingly, that is equal to the sum of the state grant and the city's appropriation to complete the Long Hill Road fields.

Middletown Youth Soccer is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, so unlike POTUS, its tax records are publicly available, at least for the years 2013-2016, with some information available for 2010-2012 as well.  They show the following dollar amounts:

year revenue revenue less expenses cash on hand
2013 575,239 72,343 171,900
2014 821,003 177,602 360,082
2015 890,889 79,497 454,436
2016 976,535 76,773 506,245

With a nest egg of $500,000+ that is growing by more than $70,000 per year, MYS appears to have the resources to deliver on its contractual obligations.

5.  The city is proposing to completely redo the way ball fields are made available to the public, with a three-tiered system to be put in place.  The second and third tiers will be required to have 60% of their membership be city residents, but not the highly prioritized first tier, which includes Middletown Youth Soccer.  Why?  It is rumored that the matter will be taken up at the Monday, 1 April Common Council meeting, but as of this writing, no agenda has been posted.

As you can see, I've got questions, and I would really like some answers.  Perhaps a knowledgable individual or city official who sees this post can provide them.  I am sure some readers are thinking, "you just don't understand!"  You are right.  Help me out.

8 comments:

  1. Well researched, Brian, especially on (point 1) Mayor's explanation of his vote against the artificial turf in 2015 and (point 2) the source of MYS bank account coming from taxpayer money (state and local) that is being used in a manner that was voted AGAINST by the voters of Middletown in 2015. The City staff that has allowed MYS to progress in this artificial turf project have some explaining to do to the voters. MYS and Public Works should be put on notice to CEASE AND DESIST until the questions raised by you and other members of the public are fully vetted by the Common Council.

    Joan Liska
    Past Chairwoman of the Conservation Commission of Middletown

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  2. Please look into how many Middletown kids actually get to use the fields at Country Club Road. Hundreds of kids from Durham, Portland, Cromwell are on the upper level teams and pay thousands or dollars to be on the teams. Many Middletown kids are left off the rosters or can't afford to play on those teams.

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  3. People get your facts straight MYS paid for all goals in the city, all fields irrigation’s, paid for lights in CCR fields, spend a lot of money to build CCR and Long hill road fields and aloud MHS kids to play games in CCR during fall season. Grass fields in our city are in awful conditions except two new fields build at Patt Kidney for soccer and baseball. We should look at small city next to us Durham who has great turf field at their high school and all kids and family are welcome to use to play or go for walk around track. We should raise questions why none of our kids or family in Middletown can’t use MHS turf fields when we tax payers paid for it. Kudos to people running MYS for raising funds to do something good that will benefit all kids in our town don’t be jealous about somebody improving something for our kids. They are not only one that have artificial turf in the Middletown just look around Xavier and MHS have turf as well. Last did you ask why MHS , Xavier and Mercy have so much succes in soccer in last few years must be because club they playing for it did something good. There is 85% of kids in our program that are from Middletownarea and yes we welcome kids from surrounding towns to play because they like MYS program and what they do.

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  4. Thank you Middletown Eye, for getting so much information into the public eye. As a member of the City Commission on Conservation and Agriculture, I have been very puzzled about why the city would help to fund artificial fields that are a known health and environmental hazard when the City Council decision of 2015 very clearly stated that city funds should be used only for natural grass fields. I don't believe that the intent of the resolution was at all unclear. I look forward to receiving some answers from the departments that have been funneling funds toward design and improvements of a field that will be used by very few city residents, will be constructed in a manner that causes ongoing health and environmental issues, and will pull funding from other properly-budgeted items.

    Elisabeth Holder
    Chairwoman, Middletown Commission on Conservation and Agriculture

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  5. Anonymous March 27, 2019 @ 2:43pm.
    Get YOUR facts straight! MYS did not pay for all the irrigation on city fields or the goals. Only at longhill and ccr. Did they tell parents that so they could get more money for their fees from them?

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  6. Anonymous says "....aloud MHS kids to play games in CCR during fall season." Wow, mighty liberal of you, and here I thought the fields belonged to the city. Apparently you don't think so, so why is the city paying for your turf? Out of the Parks Bonds Project, when turf was removed from that Project?
    85% of kids are from Middletown area? I call Bullshlt.

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  7. This appears to violate one of the fundamental principles of law that governs legislative actions: That which cannot be done directly shall not be done indirectly. If the city cannot directly pay for the artificial turf, it cannot indirectly pay for the artificial turf.

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  8. So many questions and suspicions!
    I'm worried about finances (I'm seeing lots of conflicting claims in these comments; but know for sure the City is talking about paying for improvements it sounds like MYS is supposed to make).
    I'm even more concerned about the safety of our kids - artificial turf has a lot of potential health risks, and if the city grass fields are in bad shape, why aren't we rehabbing them?
    This seems very fishy, and a bad idea for our City to be doing a go-around to pay for these turf fields.

    ReplyDelete

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