Upgrades to four ball diamonds near Garden City may be the most significant progress made by the Bartholomew County Parks Department in several years.
In 2019, the annual budget for all 12 county parks was only $210,981. But last week, the lowest proposal to install a new lighting system at the four baseball and softball diamonds at Dunn Stadium was almost three-and-a-half times that amount.
Hellas Construction Inc., an Austin, Texas-based company that specializes in sports facilities and installing athletic surfaces, offered to install the new LED lighting system for $726,170.
If that low bid is accepted, the new lights will cost nearly three-and-a-half times the entire 2019 Bartholomew County parks budget for a dozen separate parks. Hellas has branch offices located across the country, with the nearest one to Columbus located in Youngstown, Ohio.
The only other submitted bid of $936,000 came from Custer Electric, Inc., a sports-lighting specialist in Rushville. Bartholomew County Parks Director Rich Day is expected to recommend one of the bids to the County Commissioners sometime after the first of the year, commissioners Chairman Carl Lienhoop said.
The county will use discretionary federal funds received through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to pay for the new lights, Lienhoop said earlier this month.
This will be the first upgrade of the Dunn Stadium lights in 34 years, Day said. Since several of the wooden light poles have significantly deteriorated, they will be pulled out by crews from the Bartholomew County Highway Garage, the parks director said. New metal poles with LED lights will be installed to provide a wider and higher field of vision during night games, Day said.
Due to scheduling, there will only be two times next year when the new lighting system can be installed, Day said. The winning contractor can do it either in March or in August, Day said.
The investment makes economic sense because tourism was a $283 million a year industry in Bartholomew County prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the city’s architecture might get much of the attention, a substantial part of the tourism income is derived from sports tournaments, according to data from the Columbus Area Visitors Center.
During the summer months, Dunn Stadium is extensively used in baseball and softball tournaments that are held nearly every weekend. Most companies like Hellas and Custer offer guarantees for their lighting systems that range from 15 to 25 years, he said.
