The Great Bend Recreation Commission board took an impromptu field trip Monday afternoon.
As part of its monthly meeting, the board was invited out to the Great Bend Sports Complex to see firsthand the progress being made on the turf installation project on the complex’s five fields.
As Assistant Director Chris Umphres was providing his monthly update on the project to the board, Executive Director Diann Henderson suggested a field trip to give the board a chance to see the progress for themselves.
While at the field, Umphres pointed out new features, including mound and base anchors, and explained how the drainage system will work once the turf is complete. Each field is set up for use by multiple age groups, with base anchors set at different distances for each age group. In addition to the turf, Umphres told board members that the city was planning on replacing weathered fence caps on the fields’ outfield fences.
Board members had the opportunity to walk through each of the fields and observe the turf’s features.
Board member Sue Cooper asked if maintenance for the turf would be included in the quality of life sales tax increase recently passed by Great Bend voters. Umphres said annual maintenance of the turf was part of GBRC’s portion of the cost-share agreement by GBRC, the City of Great Bend and USD 428.
The deadline for completion of the turf project is Feb. 1, 2022, but Hellas Construction, the Texas-based contractor for the project, currently has a projected completion date of Jan. 21.
“(Hellas) actually think they’ll be ahead of that, once the weather allows them to get ahead,” Umphres said. “It does look really nice out there (already).”
Of the five fields, turf has already been laid on fields one and two, complete with the rubber surfacing and anchors for the bases and the pitching mounds. For the safety of players, Umphres said, the warning tracks along the fences have been surfaced with sand instead of rubber. The difference in surfacing allows players to know where they are on the field if they are pursuing a pop-up, and this is standard practice on both turf and natural grass fields.
Monday, crews were working on laying the surface on field three. Field four has rock laid and is ready for turf to be placed, and field five is not yet prepared to have the turf laid.
A last minute agenda addition
A tour of the fields was not the only Sports Complex item on the board’s agenda Monday afternoon.
The board also approved a three-way cost share agreement with the City of Great Bend and USD 428 to install bullpens and batting cages to Langrehr Field at the complex. The field is the only one of the five fields at the complex that does not have those amenities. The item was a last-minute addition to the board’s Monday agenda, after Henderson received notification late Monday afternoon from the city of its desire to move forward with the improvements, pending approval by all three entities.
Henderson said the additional improvement came up in a previous walk-through of the field which involved officials from Hellas, the Rec Commission, the City of Great Bend and USD 428.
The total quote Henderson received for the improvements was $49,234. The commission’s share of the project would be $16,411.13. The city council and USD 428 board of education must still approve the agreement. Henderson said the board has room in its miscellaneous capital outlay budget to incur its portion of the improvements. According to Henderson, the batting cage project would not be included in the cost-sharing partnership and would be completed by the city for a cost of $16,923.
Cooper, however, expressed concern over the commission having to incur a portion of the costs after the recent passage of the city’s quality of life sales tax increase.
“I’m not sure this would be a fit (for the commission),” Cooper said.
Cooper and board member Jonathan Pike asked if there was room in the commission’s budget set aside specifically for approved improvements to the Sports Complex. The commission has set aside $210,000 for the Sports Complex projects, and has spent $200,000 of that money.
Henderson noted, however, the project fits under the umbrella of recreational facility enhancements covered by miscellaneous portions of the commission’s capital outlay budget with unencumbered cash, and would not have to come specifically from a Sports Complex budget. The budget, she said, is set yearly by general capital outlay expenditures and not by specific line item.
The City of Great Bend sales tax for quality of life improvements recently passed by voters does not take effect until April 1, 2022. Henderson stressed the goal is to have all improvements to the complex completed prior to the beginning of baseball season. Practices at the scholastic level begin in early March.
“We have to be cognizant that ball season is right around the corner,” Henderson said. “This is an opportunity that we can complete these projects in (a) timely enough (manner) so they’ll be in place before we throw the first ball out in the spring.”
Board approves repairs to vandalism-damaged tennis courts
BY DANIEL KIEWEL
dkiewel@gbtribune.com
The Great Bend Recreation Commission board Monday afternoon approved a cost share agreement with the City of Great Bend to repair damage to the Veterans Park tennis court surfaces left my misuse of the “Bird scooters.”
GBRC will incur half of the cost, or $11,000 of the estimated $22,000. The City of Great Bend will incur the other $11,000. The funding for this project will come from the commission’s capital outlay budget.
The repairs, meant to fix black rubber scuff marks left by the scooters, will be a partial resurfacing of both the east and west courts, completed by Mid-American Courtworks of Wichita. The company originally resurfaced the courts as part of initial repair work on the courts in 2018.
The repairs will include a single coat of paint to the entire surface of both courts, and will include the repainting lines on the court.
Henderson said the hope is to have the repair work completed by next spring’s tennis season. Ideally, she said, they would like to complete the work prior to winter, but she was advised by the contractor may or may not be able to complete the work yet this fall. Being heavily booked, the contractor advised Henderson they would come to Great Bend as schedule allowed to complete the work.
Board member Sue Cooper asked Henderson what other projects involved 50/50 cost share agreements with the city.
Henderson noted other than the turf project, the tennis courts would be the only active cost-share project. Because the Rec is responsible for the users and facilitation of the facilities, Henderson noted cost-share agreements with the city are standard practice when it comes to improvement projects at the courts.
“We tend to take the lead in providing infrastructure improvements to that facility,” Henderson said. “They (the city) are good partners to work with.”
Board member Dr. Teri Turkle Huslig expressed concern about whether steps could be taken to prevent the scooter damage from happening again once repairs were completed.
Henderson said the Rec has been in touch with the company that provides the scooters, and the scooters can be set to automatically power down to a lower speed in problem areas such as the courts, MyBackyard Playground, and areas of Veterans Park. This, she noted, will prevent additional damage from occurring in those areas.
