Jared Chadwick and Damon Solomon from the Wareham Tigers Athletic Association appeared before the Wareham School Committee on Dec. 19 to ask that its fee for field usage be reconsidered based on a number of inconsistencies they had observed. The board did not make any decisions, but promised to return to the issue at a later date. 

Solomon explained that his group is “limited in the registration fees we can charge. We can’t afford the luxuries that other towns can afford with field usage,” adding that “we fundraise, we keep the cost down, but really what it boils down to is the low median income and lack of parent volunteers to fundraise.”

He also explained that the league teaches their kids to pick up trash after the game, that board members check in with facilities people after every weekend, and that the league has gone above and beyond by having parents who were electricians put in and rewire the lights over the field, by building a concession stand, and by maintaining portable restrooms. 

He said fees for football, flag football and cheerleading added up, and he wanted to work toward a solution where “we’re not paying $7,000 to $10,000 a year just to use fields.”

School Committee member Apryl Rossi  said she had been board member for Tigers for six years. She said more than half the families cannot cover the program’s costs, so other parents or the police station step up to ensure that every child can participate. 

Rossi pointed out that the youth league “also feeds our high school football team,” and added that “in the six years I was on that board I never saw a bill in that amount, ever.” 

The flag football program has been added since Rossi left, she said, but she pointed out that it was even less to a drain on the field, because it uses sneakers and kids are not rolling around in the mud.

Rossi also remembered a problem with the Tigers booking extra days on the field for rain dates, and then being charged even if they did not use the field. 

“We understand that we have to pay for janitors, lights stuff like that. We’re not asking to have all that waived,” Chadwick said. But he wanted to see other aspects of the policy looked at. 

School Committee Chair Michael Flaherty said that the league’s donations should be formally declared and taken into account, since he did not know about them. 

Another School Committee member, Laurie Spear, asked “How are we going to know that you aren’t going to be there, to recoup money?”

Tigers organizers said that to their knowledge they were the only ones using the field. 

School Committee members promised to revisit the issue at another meeting.