Parks staff seeks task force to address league management as tournament play, maintenance pressures grow

Parks staff told the Abilene Parks Board on Feb. 17 that a long-running partnership between the city and youth sports leagues is straining municipal resources and requires a multi-month review.

Leslie Andrews, the city's director of parks and recreation, said Abilene's population is roughly 130,000 with about 21,600 residents ages 5 to 17. She described a shift from seasonal, volunteer-run league play toward year-round select and travel teams and more tournaments, noting lower staff levels and increasing costs. "Over 2025, we, park staff spent 5,963 hours of labor," she said, adding that is roughly "the equivalent of a 2.6 full time staff." Andrews told the board the city subsidized baseball and softball complexes by about $214,000 in 2025 after accounting for water, electricity and trash services.

Andrews outlined contract practices designed to protect the city's investment in fields: leagues must provide prior-year financials and treasurers must complete training after several documented cases of embezzlement in earlier years. She said the city has limited ability to charge for tournaments and currently charges $25 per team for tournament use; other tournament-related revenue generally remains with the organizing nonprofit or promoter.

Board members pressed staff on how participation is counted (the city counts registered players who paid the player-use fee), whether the city could capture more local tax or fee revenue from tournaments, and how to ensure fields get adequate rest. Parks staff recommended at least two-week rest periods several times a year for each field and noted that maintenance work such as aeration and regrading is required to preserve player safety.

Following public comment that included sharp criticism of parks management, the board voted to authorize staff to form a task force to study league management models, fees, maintenance schedules and potential funding options. Leslie Andrews told members she hopes a task force can complete a deep dive over six to eight months, engaging leagues, parents and umpires and deliver recommendations that could be adopted by the Parks Board and City Council in time for the 2027 contracting cycle.

The board did not set final membership or an immediate schedule for the task force; staff were directed to begin outreach and to return with a proposed task force structure and timeline.