School board approves $150,000 capital contribution for Diamond Club backstops
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Summary
After a Diamond Club presentation outlining safety and facility upgrades, the Stewartville school board voted unanimously to allocate $150,000 from operating capital toward new, taller backstops for the baseball/softball complex, conditional on fundraising and scheduling constraints.
The Stewartville Public School District board voted unanimously to commit $150,000 in operating capital toward Phase 2 of a Diamond Club facility upgrade that would replace aging backstops at the district baseball and softball complex.
Diamond Club volunteers, led by Mark Schmitz and other community sponsors, described a multi‑phase plan at the board meeting and said the club already put up $60,000 to relocate and add two new batting cages in a safety‑focused Phase 1. For Phase 2 the club is seeking district support to finance taller, more durable backstops and is running a community fundraising campaign with a local sponsorship program; the group estimated a total fundraising target in the neighborhood of $177,000.
Mark Schmitz told the board the Diamond Club intends to seek local business sponsors and individual donors to cover the balance, and he warned the board that materials orders must be placed by June for an August start. "The Diamond Club themselves put forth $60,000 of their own money to put up two new batting cages…" he said during the presentation.
District finance staff clarified that the requested $150,000 would come from operating capital — capital set aside for one‑time projects — not from classroom operational budgets. One board member emphasized the contingency plan: if the Diamond Club cannot raise the remaining funds in time, the district would revisit the project and its timing.
Following the presentation the board moved to approve the contribution (motion by Miss Cook; second by Mister Geiss). The motion carried 6-0.
The next steps include continued Diamond Club fundraising, finalizing sponsor recognition plans and, if fundraising milestones are met and materials are ordered in June, a target construction window of late summer before the next season.
