Council approves renaming Legion baseball field to honor the late MikeThompson
Monday night’s monthly meeting of the Sutton City Council opened with the filling of an open seat, left by Clancy Timmermans, with Sherrie Bartell, the former city clerk for the City of Sutton.
Bartell took the oath of office to fill Ward-2 following the resignation of Timmermans. Bartell will finish out the term of the seat until December 2028.
Council members also moved to rename Field-4 at the DLD Park baseball and softball facility in northwest Sutton, better known as the Legion Field, to honor the late Mike Thompson, who passed away in early June 2024.
Thompson, along with his wife Diane, spent countless hours supporting the legion baseball program, running tournaments, hosting fundraising events, and working with volunteer help to support the legion program.
While an official name has yet to be set, the official dedication is tentatively planned for Saturday, Aug. 2.
The Sutton Senior Legion baseball program will be hosting the 2025 Class C state baseball championship tournament, and will be an automatic qualifier for the big show in August, where Sutton will play the traditional 8 p.m. late game for the host team of the tournament.
Additional plans will be released at a later date related to the dedication ceremony.
VACANT PROPERTIES Sutton’s vacant property registry (VPR) has four properties remaining on the listing, the lowest that the VPR has been since it began a few years ago.
Three of the current properties, located at 105 North Way, 305 South Saunders, and 203 South Maltby, currently owe $1,750 in liens filed against property owners, and face an additional $2,000 worth of liens to be filed against each of the three properties.
The fourth property, located at 506 East Elm, currently has $11,250 worth of liens filed against it and faces a scheduled foreclosure sale against it Saturday, April 26.
Council members approved the purchase of a new digger truck from Altec. The Altec Model D3055E 55-foot digger truck comes at a cost of $395,163, and with a four-year extended warranty worth $11,690 brings the total cost to the city to $406,853.
The council also approved the purchase of underground wiring for the use by the city’s electrical department. A total of 5,500 feet of the underground wiring comes at a cost of $30,750.92 to be used by the electrical department for various sites around the community for electrical projects.
City officials also reached an agreement with the community redevelopment authority (CRA) for the sale of property located at 217 North Saunders Ave to the CRA for a total sum of $185,001 during a sheriff’s sale set for Monday, May 12.
The property will then be conveyed to Al’s Old House, LLC of Red Cloud.
Discussions related to backstop netting at the DLD Park, as well as shade elements, were discussed Monday night, but was tabled to a later date until additional information can be obtained by city officials for the council to have a more in-depth discussion.
