Pullman Park board overwhelmed for too long
It is a little surprising to learn that operations at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Pullman Park are handled largely by a group of unpaid volunteers appointed by Butler City Council.
It’s not that it’s a bad thing; it’s just that the stadium needs an estimated $400,000-plus in repairs this year. Parts of the roof need to be replaced, the stadium HVAC system needs to be fixed and the field’s turf, which was installed in 2008, needs an overhaul. That’s a lot of money and a lot of planning being handled by a volunteer-based group.
City of Butler officials are “finding that the operations of the ballpark are a little bit too much for a volunteer board to handle.” Even John Morgan, a member of Pullman Park’s authority board, agreed that another agency might be better equipped to manage the stadium and its operations.
That other agency right now looks like it might be Butler Area School District, which also uses the stadium for some of its sporting events. Pullman Park’s board of directors is working with Butler school district administrators to transfer management of the field to the district, which would be a major change for the stadium.
Although managing the field would be adding yet another task to the school district that employs about 770 people, the district likely has the resources to devote to making sure the stadium is in good shape. That the school district has hundreds of paid staff also bodes well for the field, which still relies on a lot of volunteer work for cleanup and operations.
It’s a bit of a bummer that for the summer of 2025, Butler baseball fans won’t be able to see the city’s hometown team, the Butler BlueSox, at a stadium close to their homes. But if it means the field can be overhauled both physically and organizationally to make way for the team’s success in the future, we can wait another year before returning to home plate.
— ET
