Pictured is Michael White from Mike’s Roofing, who was working to cut and replace the steel on the roofs of the dugouts at Eljer Park this morning. He and his coworkers reported they should complete the project today.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Jacob Runnels)
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The Marysville Parks and Recreation Committee’s discussion this week on criteria for naming ball fields ended in a simple decision – there shouldn’t be any criteria.
At Tuesday’s meeting, committee member Janell Alexander said she wanted to spur a discussion after they debated the naming of an Eljer Park field after local community sports figure Jesse Sepeda.
“When we were trying to name that field, it kind of put us in an awkward spot,” Alexander said.
Alexander said she didn’t mind doing background research if the committee decided to explore set guidelines for naming facilities.
Committee member Mark Reams said a problem stems from the variety of reasons a person would want to name a field after someone.
Public Service Director Mike Andrako agreed, saying it’s hard to institute some sort of set guideline.
“I don’t know what the criteria is, but I know it when I see it,” Andrako said. “I don’t know if you can really put that into words.”
Other committee members also noted the city has only had to deal with naming fields a “couple times” in the past several years.
Reams noted places like MacIvor Woods and the Jim Simmons Trail were easy, since their namesakes were directly involved in their development.
Andrako reiterated his view that having set rules could be trouble. He said he’d be open to looking into it further if Alexander found other cities with set criteria.
“But I don’t know. There’s always going to be a situation that breaks the rules. If you’re stuck with a policy, you’re not going to be flexible,” Andrako said.
Committee member Tom Eley agreed. He said people have so many facets, it’s hard to legislate that a certain set of them should qualify for their name to be put on a sports field.
“There’s always going to be a story that I didn’t know about,” Eley said. “I think things fall into place for a reason, and there’s a lot of stories out there.”
Alexander said she’s fine with keeping the naming process fluid, and is satisfied with the discussion.
“At least we talked about it,” she said.
In other committee news:
-Local Eagle Scout Patrick London, of Troop 355 in Marysville, is looking to give those who visit American Legion Park the gift of reading with an Eagle Scout project.
London is working with the Marysville Public Library to put a free “little library” at American Legion Park. The “library” is a standing box that people can use to leave or take books.
The committee expressed unanimous support for the project.