Council hears stadium update, rejects motion to pause project after budget transparency dispute

Council members on Wednesday heard a design-development update for a proposed baseball venue at 1500 Buffalo Road and debated whether the project — now tied to a roughly $6 million contract — needs to be paused for more financial transparency.

Michael (Gary) Johnson, the presenter, reviewed the layout and scope of the stadium project, saying: "This is the basic layout of the stadium... The grandstand seats 1,150. ...We are going with a synthetic field." He told the council the immediate work in the current phase focuses on grading, utilities and the field, and that stormwater and erosion-control permits have been submitted.

Council members pressed the project team for details they said were missing from the staff slides. "There's a lot of stuff that's not included and we're already at our budget," one council member said, noting the plans do not include bathrooms, a scoreboard or a public sound system. Miss Pickett, a town staff member, answered that the current contract covers what is shown and that the town has sought state appropriations and will pursue fundraising for additional amenities: "This was the $6,000,000 that the contract had... We have asked for state appropriated funds, and we will also work on fundraising to do anything additional."

Council members also questioned setbacks, tree removal, buffering for adjacent neighborhoods, parking and whether temporary measures (porta‑johns, gravel parking) would be used. Councilor concerns included event parking and potential impacts on nearby schools and residential yards; staff said organizers expect most regular events to draw a few hundred spectators and that school and park parking could be used for overflow with off‑duty officers managing crosswalks.

After extensive questioning a council member moved to pause the project until the town produced a detailed cost analysis and explored alternate sites. The motion was seconded and taken to a vote. After a split vote among members, the mayor cast the deciding vote against pausing the project and the motion failed.

What happens next: staff and councilmembers indicated they will continue follow‑up on the outstanding financial questions and that any material changes to scope or funding will be reported back to the council. The council did not approve or amend the current contract during the meeting.