The City of Butler Parks, Recreation Grounds, and Facilities Authority remains in limbo while Butler City officials work to pay off debt and negotiate with the Butler Area School District about Pullman Park.
According to Butler City Mayor Bob Dandoy, the authority still has five official members but only two are active. As a result, early last month the city directed the Authority not to enter into any new contracts.
“It’s been simply honoring the commitments that were made previously and that was some time ago that they were made. So we’re allowing several schools to come in and play their games and use the facility.”
Day-to-day operations of the facility are currently being covered by two $35,000 disbursements made by Butler City to the Authority earlier this year and Mayor Dandoy is directing payment of Authority bills.
The decision to not have a Blue Sox season was made by Blue Sox managers when it became apparent that funding from the Authority was not going to be available. Also, the Authority did not take action to eliminate entry fees this year, that development occurred with no staff members available to take tickets.
Before the authority can be dissolved, the City must determine the best way to pay off over $65,000 in debt that includes a mortgage with NexTier Bank as well as make other necessary repairs to a facility that has long been an asset to the community.
“There are a lot of people who are working very hard to make sure that this is preserved and that this is still a viable resource for the people of the community and so that’s what we’re working toward, that’s the motive, that’s what we’re trying to do and it’s a little bit convoluted sometimes because it’s a bit of a mess but we’re going to get it all straightened out and I think that we’re going to come out ok on the other end.”
Negotiations between city officials and Butler Area School District administrators are ongoing regarding the district taking over day-to-day operations of the facility once repairs have been made but any agreement would also need to be approved by the authority if it continues to exist.
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