Park Board says ‘Goodbye’

To the Editor:

For the past several years the Moberly Parks and Recreation Department has been pleased to host many baseball games for the Missouri Show-Me Games. We can all take pride that nearly every out-of-town visitor that played in our parks and that talked with the parks Department staff or tohers commented on the quality and maintenance of Moberly’s facilities. Many have commented that Moberly is their favorite place to play ball at the Show-Me Games. In 2011, the Parks Department will not be hosting any of the Show-Me Games. The Park Board thinks it fair the citizens and businesses of Moberly understand why these decisions have been made.

Hosting the games in 2010 cost over $10,000. By changing staffing levels, asking for volunteers, modifying maintenance schedules during the games and negotiating for half the game officials’ expenses to be paid for by Show-Me Games, that cost was reduced about 30 percent from previous years. However, because of the magnitude of the Games, there were expenses and overtime that ultimately had to be paid by the citizens of Moberly.

Because of the positive image the Show-Me Games gave residents from all over the state that visited our facilities, we would have liked to continue hosting. There are other benefits from hosting such as the increased tourism revenue from the participants. However, when we looked at the expense to the citizens versus the benefit to the citizens and businesses, we clearly were spending more money than the games were generating.

We tried to negotiate with the organizers of the Show-Me Games. For example, Columbia has all officials paid for by the Show-Me Games and field use fees are paid to cover additional Parks Department expenses. We asked that businesses in Moberly be given a fair chance to compete for the tourism revenue. Unfortunately, the administration of the Show-Me Games was not willing to work with us on these issues. For example, Show-Me Game registrants are suggested to book hotel rooms in columbia even though they may have all their games in Moberly. This drives much of the hotel and restaurant business away from our town.

With all these facts existing in front of us, the parks Board decided Moberly is best served by passing on the opportunity to continue hosting the Show-Me Games. We will use the money saved to serve those that pay for our park system.

We encourage you to come to the park often and to enjoy the wonderful parks and facilities that we have. We also wish our Moberly teams the best of luck as they participate in the Show-Me Games.

The Moberly Park and Recreation Board

Harley Mattox, president

Don Hughes, vice president

Mary Lee Noel, secretary/treasurer

Mark Wille

Angie Adrian

Dennis Winn

Rob Carter

Valerie Darst

Sam Richardson