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Residents, coaches urge commissioners to resolve concessions and field maintenance dispute at Charlotte Union Complex
Summary
Residents and youth-sports organizers told Anaconda Deer Lodge County commissioners that Parks and Recreation plans to stop maintaining Fields 5 and 6 and that the county intends to operate a concession stand instead of running the usual public bid process; speakers asked the CEO to convene Parks Director Joe Ungaretti, JD Anderson and stakeholders to resolve the issue.
Adam Mari, a resident of 1017 North Jefferson, told the Anaconda Deer Lodge County Commission during public comment that the Parks and Recreation Department will no longer maintain Fields 5 and 6 at the Charlotte Union Complex and that the county plans to run the concession stand rather than open it to competitive bids.
"The parks and rec department will no longer be maintaining Field 5 and 6," Mari said, adding that the fields are the ones closest to Ace Hardware and that the change was announced without prior consultation with local teams and volunteers.
Mary Sandoval, another commenter, said multiple community groups expected to bid on concessions this year and that a last-minute decision to have the county run the stand would deprive youth programs of revenue. "That money would go back into three different programs," she said, describing how high-school softball and travel teams planned to use concession proceeds to support school and club activities.
Commissioners and staff described jurisdictional limits between the legislative commission and the executive branch. A commissioner (Speaker 1) emphasized that if the matter takes the form of a contract award or a special-event permit it falls within the commission’s authority, but that routine operational decisions by the Parks and Recreation director are an executive-branch responsibility until a formal item is presented to the commission. "Until it comes to us in one of those forms for a contract or special event permit, it's not in the jurisdiction of the commission," the commissioner said.
Commissioner Bordette urged a transparent process and asked that the parks director or the chairman of the applicable board appear before the commission. Commissioners agreed to set a meeting including the CEO, Parks and Rec Director Joe Ungaretti and interested stakeholders (including JD Anderson and Bill Hill) to clarify whether the department intends to run the stand, how field maintenance will be handled, and whether the traditional bid process or special-use permits will be used.
The commissioners directed staff to schedule a meeting so the parties could present facts and, if necessary, bring an item back to the commission either as a bidding process or as a request for special-use permits. No formal vote was taken on any contract or permit during the session.
Next steps: commissioners said they would convene the proposed meeting and that any contract awards or special-event permits would be brought to a public meeting for formal consideration.
