Oconto Falls School Board hears plea for new ball fields

OCONTO – When the Oconto Falls Public School District Board of Education met for its regular meeting on Oct. 21, most of the discussion centered around big bills.

The board approved the 2024-25 tax levy of $12.5 million and discussed, at length, plans for improvements, including a new ball field.

Business Manager Kim Sinclair said the middle school project is progressing, and so far it is largely on budget. The school board approved $6.5 million in monthly payments then moved on to a discussion of contingency costs and change orders for the middle school. Up to this point, the district has incurred relatively few change orders, Sinclair said. To date, contingency costs amount to about 1.6% of the overall project cost, she said.

One unexpected cost involves removal of an old barn foundation and trees on the far north end of the property where the middle school is being constructed. With trees and shrubbery in this area, the barn foundation is hidden from view. The concern is a student could run off and hide in the brush there, so the area should be cleared. The estimated cost to remove the barn remnants, trees and brush and turn the area into green space with a seeded lawn is $28,000, according to information provided to the school board.

The $28,000 estimate for the barn removal was received from only one company. “I personally think $28,000 is a bit high. Can we get some other bids?” one school board member asked. The board agreed to seek other offers before making a decision.

The middle school also will need banners and other signage, which weren’t included in original cost estimates. Graphic Designer Halle Laverdure of Somerville Branding attended the meeting and provided drawings of proposed banners, designs and cost estimates.

A vestibule banner carried a price range of $2,000 to $7,000, while a Library Media Center banner was estimated at $5,000 to $23,000. “These are the areas we’re really focused on making a big splash,” Laverdure said. The total estimate for graphic design, including several interior signs, was $41,500-106,000.

The cost of the graphic design and materials wasn’t in the original budget for the new middle school, so it would need to come out of the contingency budget, the board said. “If we need to reduce costs, we can certainly change materials,” Laverdure said.

Next up was Randi and Greg Maloney of Trent Maloney Memorial Inc., a nonprofit named after their late son who died of cardiac arrest at age nine. They proposed a new $1.3 million baseball field, one which they said would be the envy of neighboring school districts.

Using estimates from Hutchinson Property Services, which weren’t specific to the project, the total for one turf field and one dirt-and-sod field was $1.3 million. If lights and sound were to be included, the estimated cost would rise by $405,000.

Board member Sarah Schindel asked about the cost of seating, which wasn’t included in the estimates. Existing bleachers can be used, according to Greg Maloney. One existing scoreboard also can be moved to the field, he said.

Board Vice President Bryan Baumler wanted more clarification: “I just need a better indication of who’s paying to get it going. Do fundraising? Awesome, love it, but we have to put an agreement together on how the funding or financing is going to work. Four years ago, we had to take these fields out to get this building,” he said referring to negotiations over the referendum that provided funding for the new middle school, but not for a ball field.

Greg Maloney’s wife Randi replied, “Until we have that agreement to move forward, we can’t apply for grants because we don’t have a project yet.”
The single-largest cost in the plan the Maloneys presented was $500,000 for turf. A second dirt-and-sod field is estimated at $250,000. The cost of a building with concessions, bathrooms and a press box was estimated at $200,000. A walking path was estimated at $60,000.

The board liked the idea. “It’s another marquee attraction that we know other schools can go to and say ‘Wow, look what they have,’” Superintendent Dean Hess said.

Others suggested the cost was too high for the board to act on at the meeting. Randi Maloney said the funds could be raised through donations, and mentioned naming rights could be used to generate a large check from a donor, but she wanted guidance on how much to ask for.

“If it’s going to be more of like a grassroots community-run thing, we could depend on people donating time, donating effort, donating resources,” Schindel said. She said the last time a softball field was presented to the board was in 2012. The Panther Pride Association estimated it would cost $130,000.

Randi Maloney said the $1.3 million project could be scaled back, but it wouldn’t be as nice. “Those of us that are on the committee, I think I would say the majority of us, felt like we know what we have at Memorial Field and what we’ve had there for 50-plus years, and not much has changed. If we skinny this down and we scale this back quite a lot, are we going to find ourselves in a situation like that and do we want that?”

She has a different vision for the fields. “We wanted it to be something that we’re very proud of as a community, bringing people into our districts. Let’s be honest. I mean I think I would want people to be jealous -- to be like, wow, look at that. That’s what they did. That’s pretty cool,” she said.

Greg Maloney noted the youth program hasn’t been able to host a baseball tournament, so they have to travel to locations with better facilities.

Hess said he appreciated the Maloneys’ time in obtaining the rough cost estimates and he supports the effort to build a nicer ball field. “There’s a million different avenues to go with to get it done, to get it started, to move on with it. Sometimes it just takes that first step,” he said. But he also said the necessary funds probably wouldn’t be raised in a year’s time.

“I would recommend that you go through a process. I realize it might take thirty, sixty or ninety days,” Hess said to the board. “Kim and Mike recently brought forward to you a number of things throughout the district that they feel they’re going to need fiscal support for in the next five to ten years. One of the items to be considered is ball fields. I would ask you to consider what level of support you feel you could give.”

Board Treasurer Ginny O’Harrow said, “I think there’s an aspect of, ’If you build it they will come,’ and there’s a lot of movements around this. This little boy has affected a lot of change but for the better.” However, she added, $1.3 million is a lot of money.

Another board member asked the Maloneys if the board could take some of the proposal but not all. “Would we still have your support to move forward if the board ultimately decided to go against your recommendation to the committee to do it right the first time?” asked Board Member Emilie Trudell.

But Randi Maloney said finding the funds to do the complete project is feasible. “We’re looking to spend, and we’re very passionate to spend. We just need to know from the school board, so we can say we’re all in.”

“I can’t imagine there’s one person at this table that doesn’t want this to happen,” Trudell said. “I think the elephant in the room is that baseball fields were voted down with the first referendum. However, I don’t see anyone in this room that came tonight against baseball fields,” she said.

“I think there’s a lot of support for baseball,” Hess said. “When I moved into the district, I had a community member come and see me. He gave me some of the history and said, ‘I expect you to figure out the baseball field.’ Pretty much like, you better figure it out.” Hess recommended the board go through a process over the next 90 days to consider what level of support it could give to ball fields.

In separate actions, it approved the High School Spanish Department’s request to plan a trip outside the country for summer 2026. It also approved high school early graduation requests.