Finance Committee Rejects Bid For Miracle League Field Resurfacing Project – Bid Was $144,000 Over-Budget, Goodwill Working On Raising Additional Funds

The Finance Committee met 06/26/2023. One of the items they took up was a request to reject a bid from Keifer USA for the Memorial Park Miracle League Field Resurfacing Project because it was significantly over-budget. The city had expected the project to cost around $175,000, but the one bid they received back was for $319,550.

The Miracle League is a baseball league for children with disabilities run by Goodwill. Memorial Park has a special baseball diamond with a rubberized surface that is used by this league. That surface needs to be replaced.

The playing field surface is still usable this year, but by next year it will definitely need to be replaced in the near future. The project had been planned to be covered by private donations. Goodwill had raised enough funds to cover the initial expected costs and was now seeking some additional funding sources. They were expected to ask the city to rebid the project in 2024 and manage the project on their behalf.

The committee voted unanimously to reject the bid.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.

Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza told the committee that they had worked with the architect and an engineer on the project and had also talked with Kiefer USA around 6 months ago when the city first set the budget for the project. Since that time, the cost of the rubberized surfacing went through the roof which was why their bid was so far over the initial estimates.

The city had talked with Kiefer about whether the cost of the rubberized surface material was expected to go back down, but Kiefer did not think that would happen. Kiefer had give them the option of using a thinner surfacing and an alternative type of pad, but that would not hold up as well as the current surface had done.

Director Gazza was surprised at the increase in price, and didn’t know if there were factors beyond inflation that resulted in the final cost. He noted that there were very few companies that did this, and Kiefer was the only company that had been willing to bid on the project at this time, even though the city had reached out to several.

Per Director Gazza, everybody felt comfortable that the existing surface would work for another year and the season could continue. However, there were concerns about overall safety. There were areas on the surface that were lower than the others, to the point that they were noticeable when a person stepped on those spots, but, on the positive side, the surface wasn’t peeling or torn and there were no chunks missing like were sometimes seen in playgrounds where vandalism occurred.

Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) mentioned that her son plays there every Tuesday, so she had seen some of the things Director Gazza described. “It’s really a shame that the price is this much because those kids, this is sometimes the only activity that they have. Gets really heavy use between June and July.”

She asked if there was anything that could be done to mitigate the issues while more funds were being raised. Director Gazza was not sure. He mentioned that in playgrounds with rubberized surfaces, they used a rubber that was poured, but the Miracle League Field was more like a matted surface, so he didn’t know if the lower areas could be filled in the way they might be able to be in a playground.

He was going to check if there was anything they could do to maintain the surface until it was replaced.

The committee voted 4-0 to approve the bid rejection.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1101378&GUID=FA34473A-2482-4BA0-8EA1-BCA60A736EE7