With the passage of the 2016-17 budget for the City of Elizabethton, plans are underway about how to keep the Elizabethton Twins Minor League Baseball team at Joe O’Brien Field.
“The Twins have been a landmark here for 42 years,” Mayor Curt Alexander said. “We definitely don’t want to see them go.”
The passage of the budget saw funding go into various projects for the Parks and Recreation Department – the management of the Twins – but did not see any additional funds for stadium renovations at Joe O’Brien Field by the city.
A needs assessment was performed during the budget talks between the Minnesota Twins organization and city officials during the month of April. Throughout the discussions, the Twins offered to contribute $595,000 — roughly about 33 percent of the estimated $1.8 million price tag needed to go through with seating and locker room renovations.
“If a team’s willing to give you a dollar’s worth of work and pay 33 cents of it, you have to take advantage of it,” Alexander said. “That’s what we want to do.”
During April’s talks, City Manager Jerome Kitchens stated the cost to upgrade the locker rooms would not maximize all the funding offered by the Twins, adding that if the city took the full amount and went ahead to go through with seating construction – it would have cost $1.5 million.
Due to the capital costs for 2017 being maxed out at that time, and no way of funding without raising taxes, the Mayor said there are plans in place for the coming days.
“We’ve been in constant contact with them on a weekly basis between Mike Mains (Elizabethton Twins General Manager) and myself,” Alexander said. “We’re working on trying to phase the renovations over a number of years. Within the next 30 to 60 days, we’re going to work on an agreement that both the city and the organization can agree on.”
Admission generated from the Twins are funded back into the city to assist with various activities, Mains said. Joe O’Brien Field is also home to the Elizabethton High School baseball team’s home contests. If there were to be an exodus from the Twins, the Cyclones would still have access to the field.
The future continues to be uncertain at this time, Mains said, and the hectic nature of the start of Appalachian League play has made things busy at the facility.
“We’ll do whatever we need to do to help with the city,” Mains said. “We’ll continue to provide information and research where we can to help keep the organization in Elizabethton.”
Different options have been put on the table, Mains added. One option is looking at the potential of private donors to assist with the renovations. For a right amount, any individual or group could potentially have naming rights to the field. The field’s name would still include Joe O’Brien, but have the addition of the donor, Mains said.
“We’re going to reach into the community for support,” he added.
The atmosphere is something the city would hate to see leave, Alexander said, who tossed out one of the ceremonial first pitches during the Twins’ home opener Wednesday night against Pulaski.
“We didn’t win, but I still had a great time,” Alexander said with a laugh. “It was a tremendous environment and tremendous atmosphere. This is something we really need to keep to build on for our outdoor and recreational facilities. These are the activities the community enjoys and we really can’t let that go.”