Lincoln Little League presses town to invest in field grooming and a laser-grading machine

John Shockey, president of Lincoln Little League and a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, told the budget board in public comment that several town infields need repeated rebuilding and that current maintenance practices create “lips” and low spots that hold water and make fields unsafe.

“The infield at this point has lips on it. It has a number of low spots,” John Shockey said, describing recurring drainage and surface problems at Mandeville (Mandel) Park and other town fields. He and other volunteers said routine grooming uses a tow-behind drag and does not perform laser grading; they argued that the town or the school department lacks a machine capable of maintaining proper slopes and preventing those recurring failures.

Shockey and other speakers said contracted infield repairs cost roughly $11,000 for the two fields the league plans to address this year; he cited a comparable larger machine purchase price of about $52,000 (the town of Smithfield reportedly recently purchased a similar machine). Commission and league representatives said ownership could reduce repeated replacement costs, but that proper operation would require trained town staff rather than volunteers.

Discussion at the meeting covered maintenance staffing levels, the logistics of scheduling fields during overlapping school and rec use, and higher long-term options such as installing lights to expand playing time (estimated in the hundreds of thousands for major fields). Board members and speakers agreed the town needs a maintenance schedule and clearer responsibilities; one commissioner suggested coordinating a multi-field contract with a single vendor to capture economies of scale.

No formal vote was taken on equipment purchase or additional maintenance funding at the meeting; presenters asked the budget board and public works to consider a preventive-maintenance approach versus repeated large repairs.