The lease agreement permitting Oconto Falls High School sporting events at city-owned Memorial Field will not be renewed, officials from the city and school district decided last week.
Representative of the City Council and School Board met on March 10 and agreed a Memorial Field lease, set to expire in June, is no longer necessary. For decades, the school district used the city park for baseball, softball, football and track.
Community efforts and a successful referendum have provided the school district with the funding it needed to develop its own athletic facilities.
The school district, with the help of athletic booster organization Panther Pride and local sponsors, built softball fields at Oconto Falls High School, where the first games were played last spring. The OFHS girls softball teams and the city’s summer youth league play games at the fields.
In addition, the construction of a football stadium with an eight-lane track is under way, thanks to referendum funding approved in August.
The Panthers will likely play one or two football games at Memorial Field in the fall, because the turf will not be ready at the high school stadium.
“It was a joint understanding that they could play some football games on our football field if they need to. In exchange, we could play softball on their fields,” City Administrator Vicki Roberts said.
“I believe in an even trade,” Alderman Kevin Rusch said. “I believe in letting the lease expire in the interest of the relations between the city and the school, but I would like to see some sort of letter of understanding.”
City Attorney Larry Jeske, who did not attend the council meeting, will be asked to develop the agreement, which will then be subject to approval by the council and School Board.
School Superintendent Dave Polashek said School Board members were satisfied with the plan.
“It’s kind of a nice closure to a relationship that’s existed for a long time,” he said.
The school district paid rent of $15,000 for the first three years of its five-year lease agreement and $17,500 the past two years. Polashek said being rent-free will benefit the district, although the district will instead need to pay for maintenance and equipment at its own football and softball facilities.
City Council members did not discuss the future of Memorial Field.
In a July presentation to the City Council, Jerry Moynihan, the school district’s athletic director, said Panther Pride would reorient the existing baseball field and add a diamond, once the football field and track are removed.
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