Time is running out on a lease between the Fond du Lac School District and Fond du lac Baseball Inc. involving ownership of the Woodworth Baseball complex. The 15 year lease created in 1985, renewed in 2000 and expires this month. A two year contract proposed by the Fond du lac School District would transfer property ownership to the District and the youth baseball program would be run through the Recreation Department. A joint statement issued by Superintendent, Dr. Jim Sebert and school board president Elizabeth Hayes says Fond du Lac Baseball Inc. has been unwilling to work with the district on a new agreement, and have isolated themselves and their finances and operated in a top down manner. The statement says it took nearly a year to produce incomplete financial records and board governance documents in order to begin the negotiation process. The lease pertains to three baseball diamonds and one softball diamond near Woodworth Middle School. The current lease expires this month and Sebert says the goal is to modernize the lease to redefine the relationship to reflect public ownership in the facility and to ensure more equitable and appropriate use of the public facility. The District wants high school and Recreation Department staff to have the ability to determine who can practice and play on the property and no longer wants to pay a fee to Baseball, inc to use its own District property. Sebert says multiple times in the past year Fond du Lac Baseball Inc. has threatened to remove property such as fences and buildings from the Woodworth complex and return the area to tillable land. He says these threats are “ highly regrettable because they only serve to hurt the kids of the community.” Representatives from Baseball Inc. spoke at Monday night’s school board meeting in favor of keeping the agreement as it is now.
