Hopes that the Town Campus baseball field would be ready for play for the fall season seem to be dwindling. For a project that has been a magnet for trouble, the end of construction is still uncertain as the various parties that are involved work to complete different project elements and fix some project errors.

The town campus baseball field has been the subject of debate and scrutiny—everything from the field design to who is in charge to final costs—for the better part of 2017. In late June, former town engineer Mike Ott stepped up and brought in a series of local contractors to expedite the remaining construction required free of charge.

As local companies continued to work on the baseball field at Town Campus, a mason was lined up to begin work on the dugouts, but some of the donated labor has to be re-done or repaired after a portion of the donated sod for the field died.

Why did the sod die? The answer comes in many forms. Madison Earth Care donated the sod and laid the sod on a Friday. According to First Selectman Tom Banisch, there was a failure in communication when it came to letting people know when the sod needed to be watered.

“They laid the sod on a Friday and there was no coordination between them laying the sod and somebody letting [Beach & Recreation Department Director] Scot [Erskine] know that it needed to be irrigated,” he said. “Scot, when he found out about it, he ran over and put the irrigation on and found out that when they had been doing some of the infield work they had crushed one of the heads or broken some of the lines, so before they could start irrigating they needed to fix the irrigation system. He got water on it anyway, but a week later when we looked at the sod it was brown—it looked horrible.”

Banisch said the sod recovered after extensive watering, but because of the setback he has some concerns about how well the sod has meshed to the earth.

Madison Baseball President Ken Carone said he has heard a different version of the story.

“We have been told by town employees that a volunteer contractor had broken parts of the in-ground sprinkler system, so the town was not able to properly water the sod after it was installed,” he said. “Others have stated that this is not true and that the field was neglected and not watered in the first few days after installation. At this point I have no idea what really happened.”

Regardless, progress on the field has threatened the use of the field for the start of the fall season. Carone said the season starts around the first week of September and high school-aged teams mainly use this field.

“At that point in time we will have to inform the league we compete in that we don’t have that field available, which will cause a domino effect where rescheduling will inconvenience our teams, our families, and those teams coming from out of town,” he said. “As of today [Aug. 28], we still have no idea as to when the field will be playable.”

Items left to complete for the field, provided in an email sent Aug. 22 by former town engineer Mike Ott to current town employees, include removing damaged sod damaged by turf equipment, reconstructing the pitcher’s mound, installing base anchors, backstop wall padding, spreading and grading additional infield material, and numerous other items.

Dugout Updates

However, when it comes to the two dugouts on the field—another contentious item—progress has been made. The town originally listed the materials in the project budget as well as the labor to construct the dugouts, but looking at the $11,900 labor line item, Banisch previously said he wanted to see if there was a way to bring that number down.

To do so, Banisch issued a “dugout challenge” to the baseball community. Having secured a potential donation from Barry Grove, son of Herbert Grove for whom the field is named and who bequeathed $20,000 for the field back in 1998, Banisch said Grove would donate $6,000 for the dugouts if the baseball community could put up a matching amount.

However, the dugout challenged puzzled many members of the baseball community, who said they had previously informed Banisch on multiple occasions, both in public meetings and in private, that the baseball community was prepared to raise money for the dugouts and hire their own contractors to complete the work.

Carone said Madison Baseball hired Father & Son’s Masonry to install the block construction portion of the dugouts, finding contractors who were able to do the work for less than the town had anticipated.

“Over the last few weeks, Madison Baseball has hired and paid contractors to build the dugouts and we anticipate they will be completed in the next few days,” he said. “The total cost was $7,000, which was much less than the $11,900 that the town had requested we pay. It appears the project may be under budget, so I’m hopeful that any remaining monies will be funneled back to those contractors who donated their time, labor, and fuel costs.”

Overall, no one seems to have a clear answer as to when the field will be completed or who is the proper person to ask. Banisch said he asked Ott and received an indirect response, but Carone said it doesn’t seem like Ott has full authority on the project. Regardless, Selectman Scott Murphy said the town and baseball families need an answer soon.

“We, the town of Madison and the baseball community, need a direct answer from a town employee, preferably the director of Beach & Rec given his job is to manage all of the fields in town, a date when the field will be open and ready for play,” he said. “At this point it is my understanding that the former town engineer Mike Ott has given very specific plans and directives to the town of Madison via the first selectman and I think we are awaiting that work to be completed at this point. Right now we just need a date to get those kids back on the field.”

Banisch Discusses Future Engineering Needs

The Town Campus baseball field was just one of many projects in which former town engineer Mike Ott was involved, but following his resignation this summer, First Selectman Tom Banisch said he is now looking in a different direction to fill the town’s engineering needs.

At a Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Aug. 29, Banisch read a statement describing his thoughts on the future of the position. Banisch said that some board members had been concerned about a transition plan for the position.

Having promised a plan within 90 days, Banisch said he has now met with the engineering department to re-assign projects and duties so that the department is able to handle most projects in house.

“By paring down the relative duties and making sure the critical ones are covered in-house, we are able to keep the department running smoothly,” he said. “For projects that are beyond our capability, we will deal with an appropriate contractor for the job of project engineering, design, and project managing. In this way we can eliminate one position and reorganize the department as a unit of public works.”

Banisch said the town is unlikely to take on many big projects in the near future.

“With the current economic climate in Connecticut, I do not believe we should start any new big projects,” he said. “We should finish the ones we started and do what is needed in town to improve our infrastructure and put projects that are not critical on hold.”

Rather than fill the town engineering position, Banisch said he would like to look into hiring a purchasing agent to help coordinate purchasing within the town along with the Board of Education. Banisch said the town could achieve greater economies of scale through coordinated purchasing.

“I firmly believe that over time this position could pay for itself through accrued savings,” he said. “I would like to begin having a discussion with the BOS about hiring a purchasing agent so that we can have the position filled by January 2018. I think this position will help us save money in the long term and make our own town operations more efficient.”