Big changes are coming to Historic Pullman Park in Butler — including needed repairs for Michelle Krill Field and potential new management.

The Pullman Park board, which controls the Butler BlueSox, has decided the team will take off at least the summer of 2025 to allow for repairs to the field’s playing surface, but the deteriorating turf might not be the only thing being replaced.

According to Mayor Bob Dandoy, the Pullman Park board, also known as the City of Butler Parks, Recreation, Grounds and Facilities Authority, may also be replaced by summer’s end. The dwindling volunteer board is responsible for the management of the ballpark, but the city is looking to the Butler Area School District’s athletic department to take control instead.

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“We are finding that the operations of the ballpark are a little bit too much for a volunteer board to handle,” Dandoy said.

As the city, over the past few months, began helping with the ballfield’s management, concerns became clear, he explained.

“It's been a long time that we have been in this situation, and things are not healthy there as far as operations go,” Dandoy said.

Over the next few months, Dandoy and Butler Area School District superintendent Brian White anticipate working toward an agreement that could pivot Pullman’s management from the authority to the school district.

“We have talked about collaborating off and on for a period of time,” White said. “We use the field for our baseball team.”

When the mayor approached him in the fall, however, the conversation grew to a new level. Dandoy proposed the district manage the park, White said.

“Of course, we want to see Pullman Park be successful for kids to play there,” White said.

It’s possible, Dandoy said, the school district’s athletic department could be the sole managerial body of Pullman.

“We are not sure what role the authority will play in the future of the ballpark,” Dandoy said.

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John Morgan, a stadium authority member, agrees the school district would be better equipped to take on managing the ballpark.

“The school district has an accounting department, has a maintenance department and all the infrastructure to do something like this,” Morgan said.

The decision to dissolve the authority has yet to be made, but dissolving the authority completely or keeping it in some fashion are both on the table, Dandoy said.

Morgan said the authority is supposed to be made up of seven people, and over the past two-and-a-half years he has seen those numbers dwindle to just himself and one other person.

Morgan does hope to still be part of Pullman in some capacity moving forward.

“If there is a position for me, I will gladly take it,” Morgan said.

The City of Butler has the power to make this change, as it owns Pullman Park and created the authority in 2008.

“(The city) could have named a committee to run the ballpark or gone to a private firm or create an authority,” Dandoy said. “We did the authority so the city didn’t have to mess with it.

“Now, we are finding that is a structure that is not working particularly well. It’s a big operation for a bunch of volunteers.”

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In September, Morgan asked Butler City Council to co-sign a $400,000 loan for improvements — including replacing the turf — to the ballpark, but that loan never came to fruition.

According to Dandoy, the bank would not issue the loan to the authority without a co-signer.

“They wanted the city to co-sign the loan, but that was before the (Butler Area Sewer Authority) sale was finalized, and we were in no position to co-sign a loan that large,” Dandoy said.

“We just said we can’t do that, maybe there are other ways we can help.”

Dandoy said not co-signing the loan was the “catalyst” that caused the city to look closer at the repairs that are needed and the finances of the authority.

BASA sale funds are likely to be the main source of the renovations.

“When you have that much money, why would you co-sign a loan when you can just do it yourself? And we started to look in that direction,” Dandoy said.

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Before the school district takes over management, Dandoy wants the Pullman Park renovations to be completed, including “normal upkeep,” a hole in the roof, the protective screens around the infield and other issues, he said. The turf would most likely be replaced in late summer.

Dandoy said the repairs could cost upward of $400,000, with about half covering the cost of the new turf. The field’s current turf was installed in 2008, the same year the authority was created, according to Morgan.

“The turf has seams coming apart,“ Morgan said. “The edge of it frays. Our maintenance guy, who is very creative, he does a lot with a little. He cut out the frayed pieces and put new pieces underneath, which prevents the danger to the players.”

Earlier this high school baseball season, Butler had to move two games to other locations due to the condition of the turf, particularly at third base. Repairs were made, and the Golden Tornado, Karns City and other local teams have returned to Pullman Park.

“The field has gotten a little worse over the last few years,” said William Mylan, Butler Area School District athletic director.

Besides the turf needing to be replaced, the roof of the facility also needs to be worked on Morgan said, along with portions of the heating and cooling system among other features.

“I just don’t know what all is going to get done,” Morgan said. “We need to work on funding, whether it’s from the city or from a loan.

“How much money we have determines how many projects we get done.”

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White said Butler’s high school baseball team plans to play a majority of its remaining home games at Pullman, but that is all weather-dependent.

However, the district has two fields on its campus that will need to be used.

“One of the things we think will be interesting from a revenue perspective is those fields, in conjunction with Pullman, we can host tournaments,” White said. “We could package those fields together to help offset operational costs. The softball field could easily be adjusted for Little League games.”

White said he believes the stadium can be “self-sustaining” through rentals. The school district will also create an enterprise account, which is a separate fund under the district where revenue from the park can go and all expenses related to it can come out of.

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“We also think there are some grants and some governmental funding that we can pursue that will help with improvements over time, as well,” White said.

While the replacement of the turf and other upgrades to the ballpark will take place over the next couple months, Morgan said the BlueSox will not play this summer. That decision was made in February.

“We’re kind of taking this year off from the BlueSox just because there are some intended repairs that are going to happen that the BlueSox may get in the way of,” Morgan said. “We kind of want to stay at a lower capacity this year so we can potentially do some of those repairs.

The authority does plan on the BlueSox making a return, but Morgan said, “the problem is, nothing’s ever final.”

Eagle staff writer Brendan Howe contributed to this report.