Support shown for Christman Ballfield

About 50 people attended a special public meeting held by the Franklin Township Board of Supervisors Tuesday at the Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company to discuss options regarding Christman Ballfield.

Supervisors Chairman Jason Frey explained the purpose of the special meeting.

“We called this meeting tonight to talk about Christman field and what our options are for it and what we can do to either purchase it or do the intermunicipal transfer, but we wanted to hear from the people because it’s going to be your tax dollars if we do decide to purchase it that we’ll be spending,” Frey said. “So we wanted to give you a voice, listen to all of you, and go from there with it.”

Rod Green, former township supervisor, said, “I’ve been a Franklin Township supervisor for 18 years, and I just want to say in all that time we worked great with the school board with that field, we never had a problem, now we get a new school board on and we got one guy who thinks we should do everything different, sell it, it’s been working great the way it is. I don’t understand why we have to sell it, buy it, whatever.”

Green added, “There’s a lot of costs, and I just don’t see the Little League being able to handle all the things to do versus the township when we have employees and the community to take care of it. Plus it shouldn’t just be for the Little League. We have soccer, we have other sports, so why do we want to just narrow it down to one group? The community’s got to come together, and the problem I see we’re dividing the community, so it’s about time we all work together and get the community to work together. I hope we can pull this off, and I just think it’s the best interest of Franklin Township owning the fields.”

School board Director David Bradley Sr. said, “When people get emotional, they tend to get tunnel vision and they lose sight of morality on a lot of occasions. I see the fields as a morality issue. It’s a test to see who’s willing to harm whom, and for what. When the votes are cast, we’ll all see who thinks a little immorality is OK.”

Bradley added, “It is the parents that pay for that baseball. Any self-respecting parent would not hide behind their kids to leverage the government into harming some others to pay for baseball.

“From an open-minded, moral point of view, the FTAA (Franklin Township Athletic Association) should ask those willing to donate as I voluntarily did, and collect funds so they can own the fields. They should have a fair trade agreement with Franklin Township or the district for the open space trading effort and access and volunteerism for the fields that they own, privately, outside of government. If the Franklin Township chooses to head in the directions that they want to own the fields, they too first should ask those willing and able to contribute, before they use a single penny of taxpayers’ dollars.

“There is also an idea of eminent domain, that’s even more powerful than the power of the tax. There’s no rush for these decisions, the facts and the figures are still being discussed.”

Resident Gloria Bowman said, “I would hope that the district, and the school board and township, could work together on an agreeable transfer without incurring huge costs for both the good of the community and our children.

“I personally think that an intermunicipal agreement presents a great opportunity to expand the idea of making the Christman fields more of a community park through parks and recreation along the lines of Phifer.”

Thomas Beltz, said he was a former police officer in the township for over 30 years.

“I was here when the Little League fields came about and I seen the parents, the citizens, everybody that put something into these fields to make it a better place for everyone,” Beltz said. “The township has worked with the Franklin Township Little League the entire time.”

Beltz added, “Members of the school board, let’s get our act together and let’s get these fields to where they belong. They belong to the Franklin Township Little League Association and Franklin Township. Give the kids something to do, let’s support them.”

School board Director Wayne Wentz said he’s spent 36 years with these kids.

“All I ask, you are good people, I’ve seen that already,” Wentz said. “We’ve got good people in administration at the school district, we have great people with the Little League. I’m asking all three groups find a place away from everybody here and sit down and whatever you come up with, I’m sure we can all work together to keep those fields up there.”

Kevin O’Donnell, information officer for the Franklin Township Little League, said, “We’d like to see it be owned by the township.”

Supervisor Barbara Beltz said she was “glad for the support.”

“I’m glad for everyone that took the time to come, so that we get an idea of how everyone feels,” Beltz said. “That’s what this meeting was about.”

Approached by a reporter after the meeting, Frey said he expects supervisors will make a decision when they meet at 6:30 p.m. June 19.

“An intermunicipal agreement would be preferred,” he said. “If we have to buy it, we will buy it.”

Last month, a motion by Lehighton Area School Board to transfer ownership of the complex known as “Christman Field” to the township at no cost, with a right of reverter and pending a subdivision plan acceptable to the school district, failed by a slim 5-4 measure.

Five Lehighton board members voted for the transfer intent, but an intermunicipal transfer requires a two-thirds vote of the board, which meant six affirmatives were necessary.

That means the four athletic fields currently used by the FTAA will remain under the ownership of Lehighton Area School District.

For several months, Bradley has encouraged the Franklin association leadership to consider buying the fields outright, through the help of community fundraisers.

However, several FTAA officials said they just want to continue working with the township as they have done for more than 30 years.

The township currently leases the four fields from Lehighton Area School District for $1 per year and, in turn, allows Franklin Township Athletic Association to use them.

Christman Field, however, is located on the same parcel of land as Franklin Elementary School, which the district is currently looking to sell.

Last month, township supervisors voted to have its engineer begin the process of subdividing the baseball and soccer fields from the Franklin Elementary School’s property, pending the school board’s decision to transfer the fields as an intermunicipal transfer to the township at no cost.

School board Director Gail Maholick at the township meeting asked how much it costs the township to maintain Christman Field.

Supervisors said the estimated total cost to maintain the field is around $7,500. Of that, about $6,000 goes toward the electric and mowing grass, and around $500 is for liability insurance of the fields, concession stand, dugouts, lights, along with about $1,000 in wages for work to maintain the fields, such as rolling the field, grading the road and parking areas.

Phifer’s Ice Dam Park is a different fund, as the township has a recreation fund that can only be used for the park. The township gets its revenue to maintain the park through its pavilion rentals and recreation fees from subdivisions. The athletic association mows the baseball field at Phifer’s, while the township mows the rest of the park.