Vets stadium repairs to be paid by city's capital-improvement budget

Veterans Memorial Commission members Monday night said the most immediate repairs needed at the city's Veterans Memorial Stadium ballpark will be paid for by $150,000 already in the city's capital-improvement budget and $70,000 expected to be set aside by the city in the next budget year.

The comments came in the wake of a formal complaint filed with the city and commission late last month in which the Cedar Rapids Ball Club Inc., owners of the Kernels minor-league baseball team, accused the city and commission of not living up to their landlord responsibilities to make structural repairs at the ballpark, which opened in 2002.

Before the complaint, the commission had raised concerns about the ballclub related to property insurance and revenue tied to naming rights and attendance.

The back-and-forth prompted a meeting last week among commission members, city officials including Mayor Ron Corbett and City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, and representatives of the ballclub.

Commission members Monday night pointed out that the commission provides the Kernels with about $78,000 for repairs and maintenance at the ballpark each year, and commission members said they now want some accounting of how the club uses those funds at the park.

Earlier this year, the ballclub presented the city and commission with a detailed list of improvements needed at the ballpark over 10 years at an estimated cost of $1.6 million. That prompted City Council member Justin Shields to say the city should commit $150,000 a year for a decade to make repairs and improvements at the stadium.

In June, the commission backed a plan to spend $122,000 to fix a leaky expansion joint and drainage problems at the stadium.

Commission member Gary Grant, who was at last week's meeting with the city and ballclub, suggested Monday night that the commission ask the ballclub to list improvements needed to protect and extend the life of the stadium and, as a second priority, to list those required by minor-league baseball of the Kernels, such as better stadium lighting.

Grant said  those two kinds of improvements were “must haves” not “nice to haves.”

On the ballclub's wish list, commission members said, is a new, half-a-million-dollar scoreboard.

Commission members Jerry Ziese and Pat Reinert thought the ballclub's revenue from naming rights - an amount the commission says the club has not disclosed - might help the club pay for the scoreboard.