Madison County allocates $120,000 for upgrades to baseball fields after parents' concerns

MARSHALL - After three Madison County Youth League Baseball parents appeared before the county commissioners April 11 to request funding for improvements to the county's fields, the Board of Commissioners met and unanimously approved a plan to allocate more than $100,000 to improve the ballfields.

The youth league operates six facilities, including three in Mars Hill — in Beech Glen, Ebbs Chapel and at Mars Hill Recreation Park — two in Marshall — at Walnut Field and Bypass Field — and at Hot Springs Elementary.

During the Madison County Board of Commissioners April 11 meeting, MCYLB's sponsorship lead Katie Peele appeared before the commissioners alongside Julie Michalove and John Bratz, who have lead initiatives to collect funding from residents and businesses for improvements to the fields.

According to Peele, community members, businesses and parents have raised close to $25,000 for the league.

In the board's April 11 meeting, Peele and Michalove called the 2023 season MCYLB's "biggest season yet," adding that there are 233 students signed up to play games, which started April 10.

But Michalove said improvements to the field have not been made since she was a child playing on them.

"They are literally falling apart," Michalove said. "It's falling in from the roof in. It really does put the county at risk."

Bratz said the 2023 season marks the first season in which Marshall has operated a playing field.

"We've worked really, really hard getting Marshall a game field this year, because Marshall up to this year did not have a game field. They were playing at other places like Mars Hill or Hot Springs," Bratz said. "So, we spent an incredible amount of time getting Walnut Community Center up to par to play games. But it's still not up to par to where we can bring in outside counties, or even do state events there because we don't have the facilities to accommodate that. We don't have fences. We don't have lights. We don't have stuff like that."

According to Bratz, MCYLB hosts Buncombe County and Hominy Valley teams at its Ebbs Chapel location, which has fences and foul poles at the correct distance.

"But that field is still just falling apart," Bratz said. "Water stays on that field because it doesn't drain. It's just a big bowl. The dugout roofs are rotted out. There's wood falling literally off of them that we had to go pull out. There's bullet holes in the fences. There's bullet holes in the light posts. It's just falling apart, and we can't do all this."

In the April 11 meeting, the MCYLB representatives informally requested $140,000 from the county for the fields' repairs.

The county met April 26 in response to these residents' concerns about the condition of the county's recreation baseball fields.

In the meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Chris Maney presented a plan to immediately improve facilities at the Walnut, Beech Glen at Ebbs Chapel ballfields.

The commissioners unanimously approved a plan to develop a short-term immediate impact and long-term strategic investment plan of $120,000 to the fields.

"This one segment of our youth program, we must consider resource allocation that impacts every youth in the county," BOC Chair Matt Wechtel said.

Vice Chair Michael Garrison thanked Bratz, Michalove and Peele, as well as County Manager Rod Honeycutt and Maney for their work in revitalizing the fields.

"The Board of Commissioners had also recognized some areas of concerns dealing with the Madison County Youth League and Madison County Parks and Recreation programs and the conditions of our recreational facilities," Garrison said. "Based on those interests and considerations, the BOC met with County Manager Rod Honeycutt three weeks prior and the BOC Chair Matt Wechtel and the the board director Honeycutt to coordinate with Maney to examine the current state of our youth programs and facilities and to develop a strategic plan of short-term and long-term needs and goals."

Pike Plumbing followed through on a pledge to donate $10,000 conditional upon the county's matching allocation.

Garrison said the improved ballfields are only one area in which the county commission hopes to facilitate a productive environment for recreation for county youths.

"Honeycutt and Maney will continue working on the long-term strategic plan and coordinating with the Madison County Youth League programs, Madison County Schools, and other nonprofit music, arts and civic related organizations to develop sustainable programs beneficial for all Madison County youth," Garrison said. "Madison County parents, citizens and business owners have a long history of supporting county youth programs. It is our hope that more interests and efforts such as Pike Plumbing's contribution will result in enhance private sector businesses buy-in and community-wide support."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison County addresses concerns, allocates $120K for baseball fields