Awaiting lawsuit, East Butler moves on with ballfield work
EAST BUTLER — Council is expecting to be served a lawsuit by the East Butler Baseball Association, which alleges the borough is preventing the association from retrieving property from ball fields it has maintained for 72 years. The association filed the suit Feb. 27 in Butler County Common Pleas Court seeking unspecified damages exceeding $35,000.
While the council declined to comment on the lawsuit, council president Kevin Hesidenz said the borough’s legal counsel may approach members of the association who were involved before the past few years.
The borough and the baseball association cut ties in August, when the two entities could not come to a contract agreement, leading the borough to lock members of the association out of the area containing the fields. The association has continued hosting baseball in Prospect, but its members have maintained the association has provided maintenance to the field for 72 years, purchasing equipment along the way that is still being stored at the fields.
According to Hesidenz, the association wants to reclaim property on the fields, but he said the association has not provided receipts to borough officials.
“We are going to be having executive session meetings with the attorney over this,” Hesidenz said.
East Butler Borough Council approved a request Nov. 9 allowing the East Butler Baseball Association to conduct an inventory at the borough’s baseball fields.
The association was allowed escorted access to the complex on Nov. 11 to perform an inventory and determine ownership of items stored in its sheds. Council voted in December against releasing items claimed by East Butler Baseball Association. East Butler Mayor Shawn Nagy said the council offered to bring members of the association to the fields to retrieve supplies.
“They were told to get a hold of us, and we would take them up there and get it. They never contacted us for what they have,” Nagy said.
The baseball fields in the borough will be returfed starting March 11 in preparation for baseball teams to play on the fields in April, following a vote by council at a meeting in February. According to Hesidenz, the borough created a new budget line item specifically for maintenance the baseball fields. The borough may also invest in other amenities aside from just baseball, he said.
“We had to put that field on the budget; we have to bring money in to keep the park going,” Hesidenz said. “The other two parks are just playgrounds; that park up there, there is so much there.”
Hesidenz said the $59,000 the borough is spending to returf the field has been raised, and the borough will make money in the long term through the complex.
“We have made $43,000 of that $59,000 back through sponsorships, COVID relief, parks grant,” Hesidenz said. “We still have sponsors coming in that are sponsoring the field.”
Hesidenz said East Butler is working with an individual to book games at the fields, and the borough has 200 games scheduled for the complex.
