Negotiations continue over a multimillion-dollar project by the Monroe County School District to upgrade the baseball field at Islamorada’s Founders Park.
Both sides are continuing to hash out differences over a license agreement, which details the obligations of the school district during construction. The pact also outlines school district use of the baseball field, which is owned by the village.
Last year, the village created a citizens committee to provide input for a draft license agreement for the renovation of the baseball field. The committee members, who included team coaches, parents and people concerned about the park, heard from interested parties and contributed numerous hours of work on the agreement.
The village council approved the baseball field license agreement with committee input by unanimous vote on Jan. 8; it was then sent to school district staff and school board members. The board members reviewed the document independently, but because of the Sunshine Law, they could not compare notes. They could only send their comments to the staff and attorneys.
At the January meeting of the school board, board member Mindy Conn expressed frustration because the other board members could not see her markup of the agreement sent by the village.
The school board conducted a retreat on Feb. 10 in Key West and produced a document with extensive changes to eight pages of the agreement proposed by the village. The heavily revised document went from the school board attorney to the village attorney on Feb. 13.
The main focus of the changes made by the school board is to limit the control of the village over details of the construction, materials and maintenance of the field. The village wants to act like a landlord and the school board wants freedom of choice and action. The school board is paying for all costs, fees and expenses for the design, construction and renovation of the field. The facility is in a village park. The village owns the property, but the school board is paying the bills.
During the Feb. 24 school board meeting, Village Manager Ron Saunders made a short statement to the board during public comment. Saunders pointed out the “wonderful relationship” between the school district and the village going back to an initial use agreement for the baseball field agreed to 25 years ago. He asked for an open meeting “in the sunshine” to work out any problems in the agreement.
“We want to have final approval of anything going on our property,” Saunders told school board members during public comment. “The changes made by the school board appear to take away our right to approve anything. If there is something that is a stumbling block, I don’t know what it is. If you have something you want to talk about, I’m ready.”
The public comment period is a time when there is no give-and-take between commenters and the board, so no board or staff member replied to Saunders.
Rich Russell, longtime resident and former Coral Shores athletic director, spoke during public comment representing the Upper Keys Foundation, a group that primarily supports individual athletes. Russell stressed that there is no viable alternative for a baseball field in the Upper Keys and that the long relationship between the village and the school district has been trouble-free.
The school board did not discuss the Founders Park baseball field project during the Feb. 24 meeting. In a March 2 village newsletter, Saunders said he and schools Superintendent Ed Tierney had a call with legal counsel to discuss the baseball license agreement. Saunders expects to place an amended agreement, which was approved last year, and an amended baseball license agreement on the March 10 village council agenda for discussion and possible approval.
