Celina businessman steps up to the plate with $25,000 donation

CELINA - William Montgomery, a stalwart patron of baseball in Celina, has stepped forward to donate more than $25,000 to replace the aging bleachers at Montgomery Field.

Also, the nonprofit Celina Baseball Association is edging closer to meeting its fundraising goal to get the field into shape for the upcoming season.

At Monday night's regular meeting, Celina City Council members passed first readings of two ordinances, one to accept a $25,392 donation from Montgomery and the second to award a contract to sole bidder DWA Recreation (c/o David Williams & Associates Inc.) to install handicapped-accessible bleachers at Montgomery Field.

City administrators had intended to encourage councilors to suspend the three public readings rule and pass the two pieces of legislation as emergency measures so they could take immediate action to order the bleachers, which should take three to four months to be delivered, mayor Jeff Hazel said.

However, because councilors Eric Clausen and Mike Sovinski were absent, the legislation could advance only to second reading. Officials later set a special meeting for 6 p.m. Monday in council chambers on the second floor of the city administration building to, if enough members are present, pass final, emergency readings of the ordinances.

The bleachers were set to be replaced before an EF2 tornado tore through town on Nov. 5, inflicting major damage to Montgomery Field. Hazel said the tornado-related damage to the bleachers, as reported by the insurance company, amounted to only $60.

"They are not ADA-accessible or compliant with guardrails and they needed to be replaced," Hazel told councilors. "We were looking to have those replaced up front. We talked to Mr. Montgomery about that earlier and he was willing to do this, and we wanted to wait until after we saw if there were damages awarded on that."

Councilman June Scott thanked the Montgomery family for the donations as well as their other significant contributions to the city over the last several years, among them a $250,000 donation in 2007 to install a synthetic playing field.

Moreover, Celina varsity baseball coach Andy Mikesell this morning confirmed that Celina Baseball Association is nearing the end of its fundraising campaign to replace structures damaged in the tornado.

The group seeks to replace the concession stand, press box and dugout. They also want to build a second batting cage that would be indoors.

Mikesell said the group has contractors lined up and is awaiting approval of construction plans.

By taking on the project, the association could get the work done much more quickly and cheaply than the city government could. The group wouldn't have to solicit bids or pay prevailing wages, relying instead on donations and deeply discounted contract work, city safety director Tom Hitchcock had said. Upon completion, the new buildings would be deeded over to the city.

"That's been pretty exciting to do that, so all this needs to kind of culminate and come together," Hazel said, noting that baseball season is just around the corner.

City crews today began demolishing the press box and bleachers. Hazel said they'll also complete some concrete work before the bleachers are delivered.

In December, Hitchcock had said city administrators know they'll get at least $34,000 for the destroyed press box and concession stand. The city also is in line to receive money for the damaged lighting and fence.

They proposed using that money to demolish the existing buildings and to clean up the site, including removing old foundations.

The Celina High School baseball team and Wright State University-Lake Campus Lakers share the field in the spring, and the Grand Lake Mariners and Celina ACME team call it home in the summer. The Lakers begin their season in March and the Bulldogs season commences the last Saturday of March.