Says it will save money by purchasing a bus for its teams as recent charges have increased tremendously. | Claims flooding has made soil so challenging at baseball field that it must move toward laying down artificial turf
At its April 2025 meeting, Yavapai Community College (YCC) leadership informed the District Governing Board that the College expects to spend between $800,000 and $1 million on athletic department improvements. The improvements include the purchase of a new bus and the repurposing of the baseball field—potentially with the installation of artificial turf.
Rodney Jenkins, Vice President of Community Relations and Student Development, told the Board that the soil conditions at the baseball park have deteriorated to the point that maintaining field quality is now “difficult to impossible.” As a result, the field apparently no longer meets the standards required for continued athletic use.
Dr. Clint Ewell, Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services, noted that funding for improvements to the baseball field were found in the College’s draft budget for Planned and Unplanned maintenance. Although the precise cost of installing artificial turf remains unclear, the project appears under a $580,000 line item within that maintenance budget, and grouped with other, more routine facility projects. The baseball field was not discussed at the March meeting where the Planned and Unplanned maintenance budget was presented.
There was initial confusion at the April meeting over whether a separate $400,000 allocation in the draft Capital Equipment Budget was intended for the baseball field. However, Dr. Ewell clarified that the $400,000 in that budget is designated for the purchase of a new athletic bus. He explained that the College has faced “tremendous increases” in costs from its current bus service provider and believes that purchasing its own vehicle will help “control costs” and improve long-term budget stability.
It is anticipated that these proposals will be given final approval at the May meeting of the Board.
You may view the discussion about these two projects in the video clip below by clicking on the following link.