Photo Credit - Manitowoc Ships Baseball
The Manitowoc Public School District will use some of its funds for continued improvements at the Bruce Steinbecker Baseball Field.
Director of Business Services Nathan Meilke told the school board Tuesday night that the district underspent around $2.68 million during the 2024-2025 school year.
He recommended that some of that money be used to address a current deficit in the district’s budget for the baseball field project, totaling $341,500.
The board approved moving funds from one district fund to another to pay off the debt.
The district also approved using more of the $2.68 million for bleacher upgrades and a concession stand update.
However, funding for the bleachers didn’t come without some pushback. Board Member Ann Holsen asked for an amendment to ensure the district’s funding is made up by the groups helping to fundraise for the new field.
She was concerned that the board had already given $900,000 toward field upgrades. MPSD Finance Committee Chairman Keith Shaw said the bleachers need to be replaced to be ADA-compliant.
They were not ADA-compliant,” he explained. “In fact, a lawsuit of somebody getting hurt on those bleachers, and you can go look at them, they’re still sitting in the parking lot, would have been more than the cost of any bleachers we would get. So, it’s not part of the baseball groups, it’s part of our responsibility.”
Board Member Chris Able believed that the fundraising group helping fund the baseball field would have been able to pay the district back.
“They have already shown that they are hardworking and sincere in the fundraising,” he stated. “They have been quite successful, so I’m okay with doing that. I understand the risk that we are assuming by doing that, which is that if they fail to make up the rest, well, then they don’t make up, we will quite literally be ending up eating.”
In the end, the board voted down the amendment 2-5 before approving a bid for bleacher work for about $90,000.
The district also approved using $147,200 for a concessions stand update at Bruce Steinbecker Field.
The plan is to have the field ready by the start of the 2026 baseball season.
