Clintonville may save grandstand, roof
By Bert Lehman
The city of Clintonville will remove the bleachers along the third base line in front of the press box at Don Jirschele Stadium at W.A. Olen Athletic Field due to safety concerns.
The Clintonville Common Council approved the removal of the bleachers when it met Dec. 12.
Justin Mc Auly, Parks and Recreation and Public Works director, told the council that after having several meetings, including with the Clintonville School District, the city concluded that the long bleachers in front of the press box needed to be removed due to the risk of people falling through them.
He added that the city is also considering options to save the grandstand bleachers behind home plate.
“Our goal is to keep that one intact, but remove the long bleachers that’s by the press box,” Mc Auly said.
He said he was looking for the council’s approval to start removing those bleachers.
“The goal is to actually use a lot of the aluminum planking for the retrofitting of the other set of bleachers,” Mc Auly said. “So, the goal is to recycle as much as we can.”
He added that the goal for the bleachers behind home plate is to put two planks instead of one where the footboard is. This would close the gap that is in the bleachers and eliminate the fall risk where the foot board is. The city is also looking at adding a plank by the heel board.
“By doing that, there is no way for individuals to fall through,” Mc Auly said.
Regarding the roof of the grandstand, Mc Auly said he would be meeting with an engineer to come up with options to save the grandstand roof. He said this would probably include the addition of I-beams to replace the piping that is currently being used to support the roof.
If the engineer approves the I-beam option, Mc Auly said the city would then seek cost estimates for the project, and hopefully save the grandstand bleachers and roof.
Although the city has been told the bleachers are a liability risk, Ald. Darrell Hansen questioned how many other bleachers in Wisconsin are built exactly the same way as the bleachers that are at Don Jirschele Stadium in Clintonville.
Hansen added that since the city has been told there are liability issues with the bleachers, they need to be replaced.