Faribault City Council Opens All Fields to Games

The Faribault CIty Council tonight unanimously voted to allow games to be played at Bell Field and other facilities in the community.  The Faribault Lakers Amateur baseball team did send letters requesting their team be allowed to play games in their home field.

City Parks and Recreation Director Paul Penansky told the council, "We have received COVID plans from the Lakers, from the traveling baseball association, from the fastpitch association, from the BMX.  So we have those plans in hand available already.  The majority of what's going to be required is a lot of extra disinfecting so the city will get involved working with each of these organizations on the additional amount of disinfecting that we're doing."

Penansky said, "We're already going through facilities and doing proper cleanings in the morning and then we are required to do additional disinfecting later in the day."

A council member asked for clarification about the facilities to be opened for games.

Penansky replied, "The BMX at South Alex.  We've been working with them a lot.  They turned in all their COVID-19 plans for disinfecting and keeping the facility going.  The softball fields at North Alex along with Bell Field and probably the Soccer Complex at this point.  Getting some of that opened back up and allowing some of the organized play to get started there again."

Mayor Kevin Voracek told his colleagues in his opinion it would bring some normalcy to this summer saying he read through the Lakers plan in detail.  "They do have all the recommendations from the MDH (Minnesota Department of Health) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).  They're maintaining their physical distancing while being social.  They're recommending for the people in the stands to sit six feet apart if they're not part of your household.  They are highly encouraging the wearing of masks."

The Mayor said, "I think they're following all the guidelines that we can to try and be out there and not be couch bums all summer."

Lakers Manager Charlie Lechtenberg told KDHL the first home game will be Sunday, July 5th at 2:00 p.m. against New Prague.