Enfield Council Cuts Over $500K From Powder Hollow Field Appropriation

ENFIELD, CT — A marathon meeting of the Enfield Town Council Monday night resulted in a 6-4 vote along party lines to a reduction of more than a half-million dollars from the already-appropriated amount of money allotted to renovations to the baseball complex at Powder Hollow Park.

Dozens of supporters of Enfield youth sports, including many speaking on behalf of the Enfield High School baseball program, spent an hour and a half during public communication telling council members about the deplorable condition of the Powder Hollow field, which has been the home to varsity baseball since 2018.

Among the complaints were unevenness in the playing surface, causing genuine concern about potential injuries. Others said the facility is "an embarrassment" to the kids and parents when visiting teams accustomed to nicer parks travel to Enfield.

Several council members expressed their desire to have home games played on the high school grounds, but the current alignment of three teams (varsity, junior varsity and freshman) sharing two full-size fields is impractical. In addition, a permanent outfield fence cannot be installed without taking away shared practice space from other sports such as soccer, field hockey, football and lacrosse.

In 2021, the council approved the Powder Hollow project with three appropriations. The first, for $689,000, enabled the town to purchase a complete lighting system, which is currently being stored in Ohio, according to public works director Donald Nunes. The original amount would also allow for the outfield fences to be moved back about 30 feet, to be more in line with standard dimensions for high school varsity fields.

A resolution was introduced to rescind the previous council decision about the second and third appropriations, totaling $811,000. An allocation of $270,000 had been earmarked for upgrades to field grading, sodding and a new irrigation system, while another, for $541,000, would include new dugouts, a batting cage, press box, parking lot improvements, handicap-accessible seating and a concession stand.

More than four and a half hours into the meeting, an amendment to the resolution was made adding back the $270,000 allocation, but removing the $541,000 figure. The amended resolution passed with affirmative votes from all six Republican councilors and opposition from the four Democrats. Republican Doug Finger had to leave the meeting early and was not present for the vote.

In its final action of the night, the council voted, again 6-4 along party lines, to appoint Tom Tyler as interim town attorney, effective Jan. 1 upon the expiration of the term of current attorney James Tallberg.

Upon stating she would not be supporting Tyler's nomination, councilor Gina Cekala said, "There are many reasons for this, but I'm going to focus on just three." She cited non-receipt of an application for the job; the lack of municipal or land use law in the numerous services offered by Tyler's firm, Tyler & Tyler; his outspoken negative references to town employees, council members and residents while a member of the Board of Assessment Appeals; and his campaign contribution of $2,000 to the Enfield Republican Town Committee, despite being a lifelong Democrat and past longtime chairman of the Enfield Democratic Town Committee.

"These are the same people who approached him and asked him about becoming town attorney," she concluded.

All four hours, 58 minutes and 44 seconds of the meeting may be viewed here.