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Bellefonte Borough: Field upgrades are BASD’s responsibility

BELLEFONTE — If the baseball field at Governor’s Park is going to get any upgrades prior to the 2020 season, the Bellefonte Area School District will have to pony up the money.

At last week’s borough council meeting, a resident of the borough asked council if taxpayer money would be used for repairs to the field. According to borough assistant manager Don Holderman, that answer is no.

“The borough does have an agreement with the school district and the school district is responsible for all renovations that they want to do to the baseball field,” Holderman said. “There really would be no financial input from the borough.”

At last week’s Bellefonte school board meeting, Aaron Barto, Bellefonte Area School District’s director of physical plant, talked about the renovations needed to John Montgomery Ward Field. The most pressing, he said, was the condition of the outfield fence. At the meeting, Barto provided the board with a pair of estimates, both from Warriors Mark Fencing. According to the letter, repairing the fence would cost anywhere from $2,500 to $4,000. To tear down, replace the fencing and posts would cost $10,980. The repairs could be made in a day, while a complete tear down and replacement would take three to four days.

Holderman addressed the fencing issues on Monday night.

“They have asked about some fencing issues that were there prior to the agreement. It is possible that the borough could help with something like that,” Holderman said. “But as far as any major renovations, it would be on the school district to do that.”

There are many issues facing the field. While fencing is at the top of the list, there are also issues with the dugouts, seating, overall field conditions, lack of a scoreboard and lack of a concession stand.

Holderman said that the district has carte blanche to make improvements to the field.

“Issues like the dugouts, scoreboard, any other major improvements that the district wants to take on, they can,” Holderman said.

The field has become the home of the Bellefonte Area High School baseball team after its field was gobbled up by the expansion of Rogers Stadium.

In addition to the Red Raiders, the field is also home to the Bellefonte American Legion baseball team. Other than that, the field sits vacant for much of the summer.

“I’ve always personally thought it’s a very nice field,” Holderman said. “I don’t think it’s in that bad of shape.”

The Bellefonte school board is expected to address the fencing issue at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at the Bellefonte Elementary School.

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