Centralia to Put Final ARPA Funds of $1.4 Million Toward Ball Field Turf at Fort Borst Park

Apr. 3—During its regular meeting last week, the Centralia City Council decided to allocate the city's remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, totaling $1,434,087, toward installing artificial turf on fields at Fort Borst Park.

Which fields will receive the turf has yet to be determined, but the city will seek to increase accessibility for year-round baseball and softball practice and games.

Turfing the fields was one of two proposals under consideration to receive ARPA funds this past month. The other project the money was considered for was a Business Equity Center downtown, City Manager Rob Hill said.

"Staff had discussions about the Business Equity Center that was proposed, and based off of information we gathered, the funding available and the cost for that project, we don't think that project should be considered," Hill said.

Calls for turf at the Fort Borst Park fields originated from citizens who were concerned that softball tournaments were moving to other turfed fields, while Borst's remained unusable during the rainy season.

Centralia teams wanted a year-round home field for games and practices.

During public comment, one parent said Centralia teams often have to travel to Chehalis for home games and practice, a plea that was heard repeatedly by the council beforehand.

"Our boys have Wheeler Field and it's a beautiful field they have access to. It looks like the turfing of the quads is gonna move forward, which is baseball and might be some softball there as well," Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston said. "Our girls' high school team has to put up and take down their own fence because they don't have a field sized appropriately for what they're doing and if there's a way for us to use these ARPA dollars to turf our fields and create a permanent place for fastpitch, I think that would be a very equitable approach for making our parks a wonderful place for our community members."

Smith Johnston added bringing back softball tournaments outside of the school district is another economic benefit, but her priority is to make sure community members have what they need.

Community Development Director Emil Pierson said while he supported using ARPA funds for the fields, a number of other entities have already been involved with attempting to fund field improvements. The Centralia School District requested approximately $2.48 million from the state Legislature.

"That was granted, it's currently in the budget," said Pierson, later adding, "Everybody is desperately trying to get as much out of this as we possibly can."

The school district was required to make the request since some of the fields are on district property. Other partners involved include the Lewis County Public Facilities District, the Northwest Sports Hub and the Twin Cities Sports Commission.

"What I don't want to do (tonight) because we're not ready, is to actually get into the weeds about exactly which piece of ground we're going to put turf on," Pierson said. "We need to go back (and) talk to the stakeholders. A lot of people have a vested interest in this project."

City councilors spent around 45 minutes discussing further details and ultimately voted unanimously to use the remaining ARPA funds toward the Fort Borst Park fields.

Centralia was initially given just under $5 million in ARPA funds and had a total of $4,551,452 left after purchasing a sandbagging machine and body cameras for the Centralia Police Department last year.

During its Feb. 28 meeting this year, the Centralia City Council voted 6-1 to allocate $3,117,365 toward a number of items, which included a sewer extension for Linda Lane, funding for Westside Connector planning, extending Scheuber Road, purchasing two new patrol vehicles for the police department, a police training simulator, funding for water system work at the Southwest Washington Fairground, funding for a broadband grant program, and outfitting a new ambulance for the Riverside Fire Authority

This left the city $1,434,087 in ARPA funds, which has now been earmarked for the fields at Fort Borst Park.