LETTER TO THE EDITOR
FROM STEVE PRIBULICK
Disclaimer – My opinion, and some educated dot connecting on my part based on discussions I have been having with people in the last 72 hours. Stick with me, I know this is long.
I have been scratching my head over the reason behind the reason for all of this bruhaha between the youth league and the city. There is something more here than financials, innuendo, and contracts.
The Contract – That should be in place and that should have been in place since 1990 when the then Attorney General Don Siegelman handed down an opinion that “A city may not contribute funds to a privately sponsored baseball league but may contract with the league to provide a baseball program and tournament for the city”. This is all part of the Section 94 of the Alabama Constitution that the city referenced yesterday. What people need to know, and you can go read it for yourself, is that requirement has been in place since 1990 when the opinion was published. I understand the rush at this point to get a contract in place because whoops, someone with the city is now aware that Section 94 exist, and they are not in compliance with it. I mean come on it only took them 32 years to realize that a contract is required if they are going to provide anything of value to the league. So up until now, as far as I am aware going back to the 70’s, it has all been spoken contracts between various Mayors and various Commissioners, with nothing in writing. It should be in writing so that both sides know the expectations. Maybe somewhere along the line there were agreements about ability to or not to sub-let, I’m just not aware of them. But why the money piece of this equation?
The Financials – Section 94 does not give the city any budgeting power over volunteer groups or individuals or even the requirement to see the financials. It certainly does not give city, county, and state governments the right to siphon off funding from a group or individual volunteers. 3 times in 24 hours I heard these same words from people working with and for the city “we have smarter people now”, Just like that. It is almost like this is the new tag line at City Hall. Welcome to Wetumpka, the City of Natural Beauty, and Smarter People. Well, that’s a kick in the teeth to all of you that came before these “smarter ones” showed up, but I digress. I do not believe Section 94 gives authority to demand financials and/or take money deemed to be extra. You can read that for yourself. It is very plainly written, and the transfer of money is not mentioned, except barring the municipality from providing the value of something except under certain circumstances. (The various Attorneys General opinions handed down over the years).
New Parks and Rec Manager – Then I catch a whiff of the city making plans to hire a new Parks and Rec manager (completely speculation on my part, no one with the city would confirm or deny that part themselves). Then I remember some past trips where Parks and Rec was discussed, particularly two. One to Selma and one to Troy, sort of a fact-finding mission about how sports is handled there.
League Donation – This happened, according to the league, in recent past and they donated money to the city in the name of the Youth League to help with some maintenance issues. I think this might well have been the first little look for the city into what the league raises in funds through its volunteers. This may be when they realized that wait a minute, there is money over there?
That is when it hit me. I now wonder, could the city actually want to run the league as a profit center for the general budget, but would rather take a look behind the curtain first to see just what kind of revenue stream it would really be for them? Since they know they have to have a contract, is this not just a convenient time to take a peek and see if there is enough money there to support them putting a director in charge of youth sports, with the use of volunteers of course. $50k to $100k might be worth it depending on what you are willing to pay a new Parks and Rec Manager. I know they have been to see the operations in other municipalities, specifically in Troy, where the city employs a great guy to actually run the league as a part of Parks and Rec. He does a wonderful job there and all indications are it is successful under his lead. For Troy it has been a gold mine because they fill that park with tons of tournaments. This makes me wonder if Wetumpka now wants to get into the business of running the league, but wants to put a toe in first, or pull the curtain back little to see what the available funding would be. Food for thought, fodder for those that care.
