By Rick Dandes
NORTHUMBERLAND — Teams that use the baseball field at Pineknotter Park, particularly at night, will have to help pay the bills that keep the operation going, including the lights.
Exactly how users will foot the cost has to be determined, but at Monday night’s Northumberland Borough Community Development Committee meeting, a number of solutions were suggested.
The borough has budgeted $4,000 to operate the park.
In order to find out who uses the facility, the committee approved a motion that whoever uses the field first has to come to the borough office, register, pay a fee, which has yet to be determined, and provide a schedule of games. That would include Little League teams, American Legion teams and adult league teams.
Then, “we have to find a way to pay for the utility bills,” Chairman Greg Carl said.
Bryan Luden, a resident, made several suggestions about how to run the field at a profit. “I’m a businessman,” he said. “I can run the park and the concession stand and make money that would pay the bills.”
Luden said he would look into how best to operate the concession stand and report to the Borough Council.
He suggested the committee also investigate a metered approach to the lighting.
“If a group knows the meter is being policed, and that they are paying for the time they use the lights at night, I assure you, usage will be down and so will our bills,” he said.
Last year, the August electric bill was $749, and in September, $422.
One resident’s proposal to create a trust fund that would endow the field in perpetuity, if invested, was not heard by the committee. That plan, proposed by Adam Klock, would use funds generated from a land lease agreement between the borough and Verizon Wireless Inc., which is seeking to erect a wireless telecommunications tower on land behind the baseball field.
“This would be a great solution to paying for the field,” said a disappointed Klock, who was at the meeting to present the plan. “It would secure the field’s financial future and reduce the burden on taxpayers.”
Carl said the suggestion would best be brought up at the borough finance committee’s next meeting, set for 7 p.m. March 9.
