City “Sports Complex” to get oversight group
A six-person committee will be formed to provide future “oversight” of the City of Frostproofs $1.5 million sports complex. City commissioners earlier this week gave unanimous approval to an inter-local agreement with the Polk County School board that creates the new group, and will save the city tens of thousands of dollars.
High School officials will continue to be responsible for all scheduling of the site’s various fields and facilities, and the agreement also contains a provision by which the schoolboard agrees to provide adequate availability of the complex to Frostproof Youth Ball, Inc. The school will have all authority relative to scheduling, as they have in the past, City Manager T.R. Crowley noted. The important thing we’re looking for is that we provide recreational opportunities for our youth. We have a great partnership, and I don’t see any reason that would change.
Perhaps the best news of all is the savings Frostproof will realize as part of the agreement. The city will pay up to $15,000 annually to cover utility costs, much less than what it would have otherwise pulled from Frostproof’s coffers. It’s more than enough for the electricity, Crowley said. But if it’s utilized to the fullest, it could get to that point.
Before the school district agreed to cover maintenance costs, the city had to ask for contract proposals from the private sector to do that work. The only bid came in at $100,000, Crowley indicated. We’re saving anywhere between $75,000 and $85,000, Crowley added.
The sports complex debuted in 2001, and much of the money for it was actually raised by local residents. The county has already started providing maintenance in the fall, and city officials indicated that the school board had already invested $100,000 in work and equipment at the complex. Mayor Larry Sullivan has been appointed by commissioners to serve as the city’s representative on the oversight group. Other representatives will include a representative of the Frostproof community at large.
Polk County Leisure Services, the facilities department of the school board, the school boards grounds department and the Frostproof High School Principal.