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RESOLUTION R-1516-102: A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, APPROPRIATING $65,737 FROM THE LITTLE LEAGUE REVENUE ACCOUNT TO BE USED FOR THE YOUTH BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL PROGRAMS FOR THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT.
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BACKGROUND: The Youth Baseball/Softball Program has been made possible by the City of Norman Parks and Recreation Department since 1972. Over the many years this program has successfully evolved to provide access to a spring and fall baseball/softball program for up to 2,000 children. Over the past several seasons, however, the participation number has begun to decline.
Following the conclusion of the 2015 summer season, citizen advisory committees were organized to address the reasons for the declining number of participants. At the conclusion of the committee meetings it was determined that we needed to reconfigure our program to provide a higher level of competition with more competitive rules for baseball and fast pitch softball participants, while continuing to provide recreational leagues.
The Parks and Recreation Youth Baseball/Softball program goal is to not only bring back Norman teams to Norman by enhancing the quality of competition and skill development for the competitive leagues, but to simultaneously provide recreational leagues for those preferring a less competitive environment while increasing the number of games played.
The new program was presented to the Norman Board of Park Commissioners who approved it at their meeting of 5 November 2015.
DISCUSSION: During the process of expanding and improving the Youth Baseball/Softball program it has become clear that to move forward to a higher quality of officiating and additional games, more funding is needed (see detailed program cost sheet attached). The adopted FYE 2016 budget for this program was $68,602. The revised program costs are projected to be $134,339. The budget appropriation that is needed is $65,737.
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