Post by The Admin on Oct 27, 2021 15:15:15 GMT -6
Lawton discussing privatizing youth sports
www.kswo.com/2021/10/27/lawton-discussing-privatizing-youth-sports/
www.kswo.com/2021/10/27/lawton-discussing-privatizing-youth-sports/
LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - There’s an effort by the City of Lawton and some community members to privatize youth sports.
Council members voted to establish a public trust authority for youth sports at Tuesday’s meeting.
Right now, the City of Lawton manages the youth sports leagues, and Director of Parks and Recreation Christine James says the department is stretched thin.
They have only 14 employees to prep baseball and football fields for practice and games.
“This time of the year, they’re out there. We have games almost four times a week and so it takes a lot of staff time, money, resources to update and keep these fields to a playing level,” James said.
James decided to tour other municipalities in Oklahoma to find out how they manage youth sports.
The general consensus was finding a company or person who can hire referees and umpires for games and be in charge of staffing concession stands is the best way to go.
“The city may or may not make money on the deal, but we are saving tons of money by reallocating those resources we would spend on the athletic fields to the parks, to make the parks more of a top notch facility that raises to the city’s standard,” James said.
Youth sports advocate Brian Henry says it’s common for kids to play tournaments in other cities but said it was disheartening to hear they were playing on leagues there too.
He started wondering how the city could bring them back here.
“If we can continue that momentum, that we got started now with the youth sports complex and the master plan coming back in that deals with some of the sports facilities, outdoor sports facilities, I think it’d just grow bigger and it’ll make it more enticing for young families that have the idea that there’s something here for them to do with their kids,” Henry said.
Councilman Ward 8 Randy Warren believes privatizing youth sports benefits people who live here, whether they have children who play sports or not.
“This is going to provide tax money back to the city that we can use for other things,” Warren said. “It’s a good deal for everybody. For years and years and years, we’ve needed to provide more things for children and young adults to do and this is going to be the first step in that.”
Henry said the next critical steps are to get community members seated on the trust and then find the person or entity who can manage the process of privatizing Lawton’s youth sports.
Council members voted to establish a public trust authority for youth sports at Tuesday’s meeting.
Right now, the City of Lawton manages the youth sports leagues, and Director of Parks and Recreation Christine James says the department is stretched thin.
They have only 14 employees to prep baseball and football fields for practice and games.
“This time of the year, they’re out there. We have games almost four times a week and so it takes a lot of staff time, money, resources to update and keep these fields to a playing level,” James said.
James decided to tour other municipalities in Oklahoma to find out how they manage youth sports.
The general consensus was finding a company or person who can hire referees and umpires for games and be in charge of staffing concession stands is the best way to go.
“The city may or may not make money on the deal, but we are saving tons of money by reallocating those resources we would spend on the athletic fields to the parks, to make the parks more of a top notch facility that raises to the city’s standard,” James said.
Youth sports advocate Brian Henry says it’s common for kids to play tournaments in other cities but said it was disheartening to hear they were playing on leagues there too.
He started wondering how the city could bring them back here.
“If we can continue that momentum, that we got started now with the youth sports complex and the master plan coming back in that deals with some of the sports facilities, outdoor sports facilities, I think it’d just grow bigger and it’ll make it more enticing for young families that have the idea that there’s something here for them to do with their kids,” Henry said.
Councilman Ward 8 Randy Warren believes privatizing youth sports benefits people who live here, whether they have children who play sports or not.
“This is going to provide tax money back to the city that we can use for other things,” Warren said. “It’s a good deal for everybody. For years and years and years, we’ve needed to provide more things for children and young adults to do and this is going to be the first step in that.”
Henry said the next critical steps are to get community members seated on the trust and then find the person or entity who can manage the process of privatizing Lawton’s youth sports.
