Board approves updates to athletic complex scoreboards, ‘Orange Monster’ fencing

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

It’s not going to be 20 feet high, but a 12-foot-high orange fence is still pretty “monstrous.”

The Charles City Community School District Board of Education held a special meeting Friday morning to accept quotes for the installation of scoreboards on the new baseball and softball fields, and also to make a work order change to what is now officially known as the “Orange Monster.”

“We had to change the height to it to fit within the budget,” Charles City Superintendent Mike Fisher said at the meeting, which lasted exactly seven minutes Monday morning. “It’s now not going to be a 20-foot Orange Monster, it will be a 12-foot Orange Monster.”

In March, the board approved the building of a grade 5-12 athletic complex that includes a softball and baseball diamond and will sit on the high school/middle school campus. The site is located on land adjacent to the high school and middle school, along Comet Drive.

The project is currently under construction, and the district anticipates both diamonds will be ready for play at the start of the season next spring.

The original plans called for a double-high outfield fence on the baseball field, to be called the “Orange Monster,” which would mimic the green high left field wall in Fenway Park in Boston, where the Red Sox play. That famous structure is known as the “Green Monster.”

Last month, the board approved an agreement with First Security Bank for a $50,000 cash contribution to the project, to place advertising on the left field double wall at the baseball field. The agreement lasts until March 31, 2035.

Fisher said the district has been working with Jeff Sisson and Kurt Herbrechtsmeyer at First Security Bank, and they are OK with the changes.

“Keep in mind, this is no additional cost to us,” Fisher said. “This is just using money we’d already budgeted in for this.”

Fisher said the change order also includes additional poles in the Orange Monster, “that way is doesn’t get blown over by the wind.”

The board unanimously approved the change order with Woodruff Construction, for $19,900 for changes to the baseball field outfield fencing. The district is requesting to construct 12-foot-high fencing in left field of the baseball field, capable of supporting Windscreen, with printing and logo furnished and installed by others.

Twelve-foot fencing in right field will be removed and replaced with standard six-foot-high outfield fencing. The contract completion date is extended to Dec. 14, due to lead time associated with new fencing materials required.

Fisher said that in order to keep the timeline on schedule, the district needed to get this approved as soon as possible, which was why there was a need for a special meeting Monday.

The board also unanimously approved a quote from H2I Group — Haldeman Homme Inc. of Cedar Falls — for $19,815 for two scoreboards for the baseball and softball fields.

The scoreboards are paid for from donations from Slinger Chiropractic and Coca-Cola, which came to a total project budget of $50,000 to pay the cost of equipment and installation. Fisher said it is anticipated the scoreboard costs will come in under budget.

“I’m happy to report there will be some profit from the donation, because it’s still a lower cost than what we received,” Fisher said.

The scoreboards were not included in the original Woodruff construction plans because the district intended to bid them separately. Fisher reminded the board that the press box and dugouts are also being done independently of the actual project, because the district thought it would be cheaper to use available volunteer labor.

Todd Forsyth, Charles City activities director, requested quotes from three scoreboard vendors. The low bid of $19,815 from H2I Group was approved. Installation is estimated to cost $13,130.

Fisher said that Forsythe “did the heavy lifting” on the project.

“We knew it would be cheaper for us to do this independently, just like the dugouts and the press box,” he said.

Fisher said the district did investigate the reuse of the scoreboards at the fields at Sportsman’s Park, but it was going to be too expensive to move them.

“We have some agreements with the city, and would have had to replace those scoreboards as well, because part of the agreement is there would be scoreboards left there,” Fisher said. “Our community is going to continue to play games down at Sportsman’s, and so those scoreboards will still get used down there.”

The plan is to get the scoreboards constructed as soon as possible, to avoid tearing up the ground.

“We want to hopefully get the ground frozen and work on the turf and get that done,” Fisher said.

Board President Robin Macomber pointed out that when Fisher says “turf” he means natural grass turf, not artificial turf.

“There continues to be some confusion that we are talking about synthetic turf, and we are not talking about synthetic turf,” she said. “This is natural grass turf.”

Fisher said that he should use the word “sod,” instead of “turf,” to avoid confusion.

“A lot of the fencing and grass work we will do after the ground freezes,” Fisher clarified. “We’re going to lay the sod, and when we walk and work across it, we don’t want to tear it up.”