VIEW FROM THE FIELD
But attaining the current volunteer structure , user buy-in , and high-quality results is an effort that has been years in the making .
According to Weier , when he took on the role of facilities maintenance supervisor approximately six years ago , he inherited a relationship between the city and its user groups that he feels is pretty typical of such relationships .
“ It was , ‘ The city is lazy … doesn ’ t care … wastes money … wastes time .’ And the city ’ s view was , ‘ All the baseball club wants is everything for free ,’” Weier said of the situation he inherited . “ From day one , every time these discussions with the user groups came up , I would say , ‘ You can ’ t undo the past , and that attitude doesn ’ t do anything for the future .’”
According to Weier , getting that message across took time ; and the added component was if the city committed to doing something , it followed through with doing it .
“ Those two components are key ,” he said . “ It was about moving forward together having the same goals , and when you say you are going to do something , doing it . Over time , we have won over some of the hardest of hearts in those long-term baseball association relationships .”
Another key to the reinvigorated relationship was that Weier limited his communication with the baseball club to just one contact person .
“ The baseball organization could hold its meetings , they would come to a consensus , and that was communicated through one person ,” he said . “ Then it was just a matter of following through .”
As a result of the partnership between the city and the local baseball club , there are now six to seven consistent volunteers working at Johnson Park on a regular basis . “ They enjoy it . There is pride there ,” said Weier . “ We ’ re all going after the same goal . If you can find the right people who can share that pride , those are the people to partner with . It just takes training .”
Training the volunteers to be able to maintain the field to the desired level took time as well . Said Weier , “ We worked with them the first few years . They would come during the day , and we would work together so they could see our staff work with our equipment . But now I trust those people to do it independently if I ’ m not standing there or our staff isn ’ t standing there .” In terms of staff at Johnson Park , there is one full-time staff maintenance person dedicated to the sportsfieldmanagementonline . com May 2023 | SportsField Management
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