Informational meeting discusses plan for new sports complex

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — “Build it and they will come” is a catchphrase associated with a rural-Iowa-setting movie and has since inspired countless non-fictional dreams and projects.

But when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go … regardless if someone has built a nearby restroom facility or not.

During an informational meeting Sunday in Comet Gym about Charles City’s new outdoor sports complex, among the first questions that arose from the audience regarded restroom facilities.

The initial stage of the project will include one natural grass softball field and one baseball field, which will have a synthetic turf infield — similar to Hertel Field at Wartburg College, which is also the home field for Waverly-Shell Rock — and a natural grass outfield. There will also be a gravel parking lot that will have a single entrance from and a single exit to Shadow Avenue just north of the city.

An overhead rendition of the said initial stage was shown on the scoreboards in Comet Gym. It didn’t include a restroom facility, a concession stand, or light standards.

“Our first priority is to give our players fields to play on,” said Dana Sullivan, a teacher and assistant softball coach who is among the committee members spearheading the project.

“Believe me, for someone who can spend a whole day in the summer out at the fields, I’m no fan of port-a-potties,” Sullivan said of what will likely fill the gap before subsequent upgrades to the complex. “I can assure I will do everything that I can so we won’t have to need them for long.

“But we need new fields now.”

As part of a PowerPoint presentation, Sullivan showed a clip of her players working in the morning to make a storm-soaked field ready for a game later that evening.

“They all volunteered and worked together to make it happen,” Sullivan said. “They agreed to do it on their own, but we shouldn’t expect these girls who are already giving up much of their summer to play softball to do this. It’s not fair to them.”

In April of 2017, the Charles City School District purchased 20 acres for the sports complex which — with continual upgrades — can possibly accommodate the school’s new soccer program as well as the tennis program which aspires to add a boys team.

Charles City activities director Todd Forsyth also spoke to the audience while emphasizing that though Sportmen’s Park was at one time one of the finest high school baseball and softball complexes in the state, it has become more of a prone floodplain due to the changing soil composition and geography.

According to a FAQ newsletter released by the school district, more than 200 home baseball and softball games (at all levels) have either been canceled or moved to an away location in the last eight years.

“Some people have been spreading rumors that the new site is also on a floodplain,” Forsyth said. “Those are not true.”

The cost of the project without lights, bleachers, restroom and concession facilities is roughly $1.44 million. According to the donation chart listed on the school district’s web page, they’re about a third of the way there.

Recently, Sullivan was able to procure several grants, including a $10,000 matching grant from the Minnesota Twins Field for Kids. But the grant is contingent on tangible progress, meaning if the project stalls or gets abandoned, the money has to be returned.

There are other more lucrative grants that Sullivan has submitted to, but they require a project to be near completion or well on its way before issuance.

In addition to informing the public with the hope that those in attendance will inform others, the meeting also petitioned for volunteers for upcoming fundraising events, including a banquet with live entertainment to be held at the Floyd County Fairgrounds in February.

Though he was initially part of the audience, Charles City School District Superintendent Mike Fisher came down from the bleachers to make a cameo appearance when a question about using existing and forthcoming school funds for the new sports complex was posed. Fisher said that some of that money needs to be in place in the event of a school bus breaking down or a roof in part of the sprawling high school and middle school building needs to be fixed.

But Fisher displayed an adamance about the new sports complex.

“It’s not only a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘have to have’,” he said before making a bold statement in the spirit of L.A. Lakers general manager Magic Johnson who said that he should be sacked if he didn’t land any meaningful free agents only two days ahead of signing LeBron James.

“It’s going to happen,” Fisher said. “If it doesn’t … I’ll probably be fired.”

Currently, a promotional fundraising effort with the motto “Help Us Play at Home” has been launched. Those wishing to donate less than $1,000 may click on the HUPAH page at CharlesCitySchools.org. Those wishing to donate $1,000 or more should contact one of the committee members who are listed on the page with personal contact information.