Clintonville project runs $12,000 over budget
By Bert Lehman
The W.A. Olen Park ball field will receive new lights in time for the spring high school baseball season.
The Clintonville City Council approved the purchase of new LED lights and fixtures for the ball field.
The council authorized an additional $15,000 to cover the project’s cost overruns. Money will be transferred from the general fund to the capital fund.
The Finance Committee had recommended the council approve the extra funds for the project.
The city had set aside $30,000 in its 2021 budget for the project, but the cost of the project came in $12,266 over budget.
The Finance Committee originally discussed the light project at its March 8 meeting.
At that meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Justin Mc Auly told the committee the lights became an issue last summer.
Issues with existing lights
Mc Auly said the situation was so bad that during a Clintonville Legion baseball game, the umpires said if the lighting did not improve they would not permit evening games in Clintonville due to unsafe conditions.
Mc Auly later told the council that during that game, 50% of the lighting went out, despite the fact the city had replaced all the bulbs earlier in the week.
He said the cause of the problem was the ballast in the light fixtures, which were installed in the late 1970s.
“My concern is if we only do part of this project, we could have more ballast go out at that field,” Mc Auly told the committee.
When asked at the committee meeting why the project cost came in higher than the amount included in the budget, Mc Auly said the original estimate was for a different light product, which was recommended by an electric utility.
“Looking into it, it did not seem like the most feasible product,” Mc Auly told the committee. “It did not last as long or have as good of a warranty. Plus, it’s made overseas.”
The lights the city will purchase are made in Wisconsin.
That company also did a photometrics study to determine the best placement of the lights.
The city’s electric utility will install the lights.
The ball field is used by the Clintonville High School baseball team, Clintonville Legion team and the Clintonville A’s BABA team.
“It is our responsibility I feel (to solve the light issue), it’s our facility,” Mc Auly said.
The light project entails new lights on seven towers around the field, as well as a light over the open bleachers, a light over the entrance and two lights in the grandstand, Mc Auly said.
The lights on the cell tower are not included in the project, as those lights have newer fixtures and those lights are currently not accessible.
The lights can be relocated if the field is ever moved to a different location.
The fact the city came in under budget on a light project at ball field No. 1 at Bucholtz Park helped make it possible to fund the overage on this project, as well as building an enclosed structure at the Clintonville fire station.