An advance of $25,000 this year through the lease agreement with the city and Batavia Regional Recreation Corporation will allow the Batavia Muckdogs to make their home field safer.
The City Council Tuesday approved changing the lease to allow the $25,000, marked for next year, to be available this year. In return, the Muckdogs will not request any Dwyer Stadium reserve funds next year.
City Manager Martin Moore said the Muckdogs, the “A” affiliate of the Miami Marlins, have invested up to $75,000 in Dwyer this year.
“Myself, Matt Worth, the public works director, Ray Tourt, our bureau chief for maintenance, went out there (to Dwyer Stadium),” he said. “We’ve looked around and saw a number of the things they were doing and a number of things that needed to be done. It was at that time that they came to us with the request to be able to float the second-year $25,000 up to this year with an amendment to the sublease.”
According to the city, the Miami Marlins have done or will do inspections this week at Dwyer, with the Marlins requiring improvements to be made by June 7.
“The city of Batavia will continue monitoring the condition of Dwyer Stadium and will conduct a post-season inspection following the end of the Muckdogs’ season,” said a memo from Moore to the City Council.
Of the $25,000, about $10,000 is expected to be spent on field safety padding and baseline fencing, $6,090 on the concessions stand improvements, $5,000 on the bullpens and $4,000 on the batting tunnel and contingency items.
“One of the things that’s been going on with the Muckdogs’ organization, working together with the Miami Marlins, is that there have been, as I understand, more inspections. There’s been a commitment, by the new management team that’s out there, to do cleanups and fixups that are going on,” Moore said. “As they’ve been doing that, they’ve been finding things in places like the concessions stands and bullpens and the locker rooms …
The vote to amend the lease agreement passed, 6-1, with Council member Al McGinnis voting against the change.
Muckdogs General Manager Brendan Kelly said, “That allows us to complete some improvements to the clubhouse, the players’ clubhouse, to get us up to minimum standards for the players and our Major League franchise. That includes putting tile in the showers, repainting, just general upgrades to that area.
“Also, it allows us the opportunity to complete enhancements to the concessions stand areas. It’s in desperate need of some equipment and some repairs to be ready for opening day. That’s a good focus of it right there, plus making further improvements to the field and address some safety enhancements from better padding and cushioning of posts — structural posts and fence posts,” he said.
Kelly said extending the netting along the dugouts to keep fans safe from foul balls and bats that can fly into the crowd.
“That’s something we’ve enhanced and we may continue extending that at some point as well. This extends it down to the end of each dugout and it’s an extra safety measure for our fans. With the speed of foul balls going into the crowd, it’s scary. This keeps our fans safe, especially children,” he said. “There have been incidents in other ballparks that we’ve seen that Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball as a whole are taking initiatives to extend netting to protect fans. That’s something where we’re getting ahead of the curve. We know it’ll be mandated at some point soon.
“Also, the league as a whole, we’ve invested well over $100,000 in year one. This year again, we’ll be investing around $100,000 or more into new field equipment, mew supplies, enhancements throughout the ballpark as well,” Kelly said. “The league (New York-Penn League) and our organization as a whole will be making some significant investments this season in enhancing the ballpark and the experience of the fans and players.”
Kelly said representatives of the Marlins will inspect Dwyer Stadium before the players arrive the week of June 10. The home opener is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. June 14 against Auburn.
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