The Clearwater City Council Monday approved a five-year lease agreement with the Clear Lake Area Youth Baseball Association (CLAYBA) to allow the organization to use the ballfields at Sportsman’s Park.

Administrator Kevin Kress said the city had worked with CLAYBA last year, but there was never any formal agreement between the parties.

 

CLAYBA President Israel Carper said he wanted something in place so their organization was guaranteed use of the fields for their regular schedule. Without a lease in place, other teams could use the field whenever they chose to on a first come-first serve basis.

 

“As a local organization, I’d like to see if we could have  preference on scheduling,” said Carper.

 

He said teams from Annandale have expressed an interest in using the fields because of work being done on their school fields.

 

That would be an issue because the city would give preference to CLAYBA. He said the only question was whether the council wanted to charge CLAYBA for use of the fields.

 

“If we charge them, likely they return the charge to the kids that are playing on the team,” said Kress. “I’d rather not do that.”

 

Councilman Rich Petty agreed, saying he didn’t feel it was right to charge the youth baseball association.

 

“Any money we take from them is less money used in the organization and in the community,” he said.

 

Members of the council agreed not to charge CLAYBA for use of the field. But Kress asked about renting the pavilion. He said there might be costs involved for maintenance, and there could be other organizations that wanted to rent that space.

 

Carper said he was hoping there wouldn’t be a charge - or at best a one-time fee they could try to raise from donors. 

 

“We’d like to use the pavilion for concessions on game nights four nights a week and at least three weekends a month,” he said. “We’re a youth non- profit. If we pay a fee for about 40 games, that gets to be a lot of money.”

 

Petty said a better idea would be to have a security deposit that could be refunded if it isn’t used.

 

The council agreed to require a $500 security deposit, which can be refunded at the end of the lease, or put back into a fund for upkeep of the field.

 

The council also approved an agreement with the Granite City Renegades semi-pro football team to use the field at Eldorado Park.

 

The agreement is similar to the agreement the city signed a year ago with the St. Cloud  rugby team.

 

Under the agreement, the team pays the city $1,000 per year and be responsible for covering the cost of a portable toilet.

 

The city is responsible for maintaining the field.