No players are taking the field this year. Despite a recent period of rapid progress on the Town Campus baseball field, town officials have elected to keep the field closed through the end of the fall season after concerns were raised over field safety—the issue that originally led to the project. No one will be rounding the bases on this field until the town receives a formal “go” from the town’s insurance carrier CIRMA.

The town campus baseball field has been the subject of debate and scrutiny—with questions raised on 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 required remaining construction, free of charge.

Local companies worked on the baseball field at Town Campus, a mason was lined up to begin work on the dugouts, and an email from First Selectman Tom Banisch on Sept. 14 indicated that the field would be ready for play on Sept. 16. However, after the email was sent, a site assessment by those involved with the field indicated that the field might not be ready for players.

“After [Beach & Rec Director] Scot’s [Erskine] guys worked on the field for several days to get it into shape, Ott sent Scot a ‘report’ stating that the field had several deficiencies,” said Banisch. “I thought they were minor, more nit-picky, but we asked CIRMA to look at Mike’s note and they felt that because Mike was the field’s designer that we should take the field off-line until they were corrected and the field was inspected by someone who could give it a ‘go.’”

In the email, sent by Ott on Sept. 19 and provided to The Source by Banisch, Ott said that while he did not conduct a formal evaluation, some of the new sod had not taken root yet, the turf area between home plate and the backstop was uneven and could cause players to trip, there was no even transition from the infield material to the turf, there were stones scattered in the infield material, the pitchers mound was too high, and the area outside the field was a construction zone, among other things.

Banisch said the pitchers mound is the height requested by a member of the baseball community, but said the issue had been discussed and both parties determined the “request had been misconstrued and that the mound was too high, so that needs to be adjusted,” he said.

Fearful the email presented a potential liability, town officials then asked CIRMA to take a look.

“Since CIRMA said to close the field until the issues were corrected, and Madison Baseball had already scheduled all of their games elsewhere, we all agreed to close the field for the remainder of the season and get the rest of the work scheduled for later in the fall done,” said Banisch.

Madison Baseball President Ken Carone said the concerns over the condition of the field had also been brought up at a recent fields committee meeting.

“Even with the recent progress made, there are still several issues that need attention prior to the field being deemed playable,” he said. “At the latest Madison Fields Committee meeting, we discussed those concerns with Beach & Rec staff and it was agreed that more time and work was still needed on the field. The town has now officially closed the field for the remainder of the year and stated that they will try to get it online for March of 2018.”

Even though the field has now been closed for nearly a year, Carone said he just wants to see progress continue.

“We will continue to double up teams for practice on Polson, and also play extra games on the road, however we are willing to wait so they can continue to work on the field this fall,” he said. “Beach & Rec also just informed us that they will soon be grading and seeding the area behind the backstop in order to take advantage of the fall grass growing season. We are certainly looking forward to seeing the progress continue over the coming weeks.”

Selectman Scott Murphy said in a statement that he was pleased to see the town take a step back to be sure the field is completely ready for when players take the field.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank the town staff and numerous vendors for all the hard work on this field,” he said. “This project represents the best of Madison coming together and we are so thankful and proud. I am pleased that the town took the field off line to address any safety concerns that were discovered. In the end, this is about the kids and safety should never be compromised.”

A History of the Town Campus Baseball Field Project

Built in 1998 and used by a variety of baseball teams including Daniel Hand High School, Madison Travel Tigers, Madison American Legion, Babe Ruth, and Walter C. Polson Middle School, the Town Campus baseball field has seen almost two decades of service. After safety concerns were raised last year, the field was slated for reconstruction in this year’s budget. While the initial intention for the project may have been clear, the priorities and process shifted as the project got underway.

The project to fix the field was formally approved in last year’s budget under the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for a total of $150,000 after being initially reduced to $30,000 and then restored to $150,000 for improvements designed to alleviate safety concerns.

First Selectman Tom Banisch, who formerly chaired the Beach & Recreation Commission and served for 15 years as the president of Madison Little League, later determined the field posed no safety issues and directed the funds toward finishing off the field complex. That move raised red flags among members of various Madison baseball leagues, and the Board of Finance (BOF) withheld funding on the project until a formal safety assessment was completed.

In January of this year, Banisch presented the BOF with results of the safety inspection, performed by the town’s insurance carrier, CIRMA, supporting his initial claim that the field posed no safety concerns. With a clean inspection bill in hand, the project moved forward with the initial goal of completing construction by April 1. However, by mid-April the field wasn’t completed and the project bill was quickly approaching the $150,000 cap.

Public conversations began over how the project expenses racked up and the possibility of eliminating some project items to keep everything under budget. By May 1, $147,990 had been spent on the project as board members and interested parties continued to debate specific items and the timeline. While the May 1 total showed the project still under budget, at the May 17 BOF meeting, the project financial summary totaled $169,726, which included some anticipated spending.

As the dollars started to add up, the BOF decided to leave $23,000 in the contingency fund to be used for the project if needed. At the BOS meeting on May 22, the board voted to approve a $23,000 special appropriation to cover potential project overages.

As now former town engineer Mike Ott prepared to leave, he brought in a series of local contractors who donated time and labor to help complete the field. However, due to communication issues, some of the work had to be redone after some of the sod was not properly watered.