Joint-use miscommunication

Steve Virgen

Second in a three-part series

When Doug Deats would look at his outfield at times during this

past baseball season, he would become upset just as most

groundskeepers would if they noticed their ballpark needed help.

Because he would spend so much time at the baseball field and

because he was so passionate about his job, Deats would usually take

it upon himself to mow the grass at the Costa Mesa High outfield.

Deats, a Costa Mesa alumnus, became one with his field and,

naturally, took care of it as if it were his own.

When he mowed the grass, he parked his truck near the field.

“One time I had the police called on me,” Deats said. “I would

take my mower from home and [a field ambassador] called because I had

my car out there. I definitely think the joint-use agreement is a bad

deal for the coaches at the school. When you look at a coach who is

trying to keep his facilities nice and you have the district on him,

I think that’s wrong. I think the district wants to get out of the

field maintenance end of the agreement.”

Problems stemming from the joint-use agreement for fields and

facilities were reasons among many that drove Dave Perkins to resign

as boys athletic director July 1 and Bob Serven to resign as boys

basketball coach April 3, they told the Daily Pilot in interviews

conducted in the aftermath of four resignations within the span of

three months at Costa Mesa.

Perkins was recently fired as football coach.

Deats resigned as baseball coach and Glenn Mitchell followed suit

in boys and girls track and field in late June.

Deats, who continues to teach at the school, and Mitchell, said

they resigned to spend more time with their respective families.

Perkins said he resigned as boys athletic director because he was

told to do so in January by principal Fred Navarro and assistant

principal Kirk Bauermeister, a former baseball coach and boys

athletic director.

Navarro did not return phone calls made to his home during the

past three weeks. Bauermeister said he thought Perkins, Navarro and

himself came to an agreement that Perkins, “had too much on his

plate,” during a meeting in January.

Perkins said he was told to resign because of his strong feelings

against the joint-use agreement, which has resulted in the

deterioration of the fields, he said.

“Our fields have gotten worse and worse,” Perkins said. “On the

soccer field or football field there is bare dirt. There’s dead

grass. It’s bad and it’s dangerous.”

While Deats said he wanted to be with his wife and children more

regularly, he did have many problems with the joint-use agreement,

the arrangement between the city of Costa Mesa and the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District that involves the use of the fields and

facilities of the school and the city.

Several Costa Mesa coaches, including Serven, said they were

unaware of who is in charge of the maintenance of the fields and

facilities. Ken Sipes, the city’s recreation coordinator who is in

charge of the scheduling of the facilities, said, once a week, a

city-paid worker mows the grass.

Deats disagreed with that.

During interviews with Costa Mesa coaches, as well as city and

district officials, it became evident, miscommunication was a key

problem why the coaches are upset with the joint-use agreement. The

coaches are also frustrated with the lack of maintenance, as well as

the scheduling of the fields and facilities to outside user groups.

The fields at Costa Mesa High have noticeably deteriorated during

the past two years, Mustangs girls soccer coach Dan Johnston, boys

soccer coach Eugene Day, Perkins and Deats said. Kirk McIntosh, the

director of the Daily Pilot Cup, also noticed the fields

depreciation.

The recent Daily Pilot Cup, an annual youth soccer tournament, had

126 teams, and if that number increases the tourney will need more

fields. McIntosh was concerned abut the children’s safety on the

fields at Costa Mesa High.

“The quality of the fields is awful,” McIntosh told the Daily

Pilot in a story published June 15.

The Farm Field Sports Complex next to Costa Mesa High has

consistent rest and renovation periods, but the fields at the school

do not, Perkins said. Because of that, many coaches at Costa Mesa are

upset.

“The coaches are caught in the middle,” said Day, the girls soccer

coach. “We started to tell the city to help us with the cleaning. It

was an excellent idea. But the city is using the fields 90% and

they’re not taking care of it properly. The agreement has to be

properly imposed.”

Perkins concurred.

“Why shouldn’t the fields at Costa Mesa High be treated the same

as the fields at the Farm complex?” Perkins said in regard to

maintenance. “They [the city] need to maintain the same level as the

Farm. They have no responsibility. They just permit fields to the

users.”

While Perkins and Day voiced their opinions, Tim Marsh, the

director of maintenance and operations for the school district, said

he has not received any official complaints, but he knows there is

disapproval.

“I have heard that there are people grumbling [about the joint-use

agreement],” Marsh said. “There are people complaining about it.”

Jaime Castellanos, the district’s assistant superintendent for

secondary education, said because coaches take care of the field and

facility maintenance they sometimes feel as if the land belongs to

them.

Marsh agreed.

“They have that feeling of ownership,” Marsh said. “But those are

public facilities.”

Serven treated the Costa Mesa High basketball gym as if it were a

chapel, Deats said. So it was of little surprise that Serven would

continually discuss his problems with the joint-use agreement with

Castellanos and Sipes.

Two years ago, Serven made a discovery. He made Castellanos aware

custodians employed by the district were not cleaning the gym after

outside user groups, such as adult basketball leagues, played in the

gym. It was discovered that custodians would go inside the gym and

hide until the user groups were done. Serven helped the district

become aware, the custodians were paid overtime for not working.

“Bob would clean it up by himself,” Castellanos said. “Does he

have the right to complain? You bet he does. I would be angry, too.”

Castellanos said the joint-use agreement has improved over the

past two years and it continues to get better. He said he always

appreciated Serven’s passion for coaching and cleaning the gym.

“[If I’m a principal], that’s the kind of coach I always like to

have on my staff,” Castellanos said.

While Serven left, in part, because of the joint-use agreement,

Castellanos said he was not worried more coaches would leave.

“Am I worried? No,” he said. “Am I concerned? Of course I’m

concerned because you don’t want to lose good coaches”

In addition to field maintenance, the Costa Mesa coaches have been

frustrated with the scheduling of the fields to outside user groups.

In the joint-use agreement, the school was told it has top

priority for use of its facilities and the city, or outside groups,

such as AYSO or Little League, schedules around the Mustangs’ teams.

During the school year, the school has possession of the facilities

until 5 p.m.

Deats said the city took the time allotted to his freshman

baseball team to an extreme level twice during the past season. Field

ambassadors work for the city and enforce the rules to all user

groups.

“I know for a fact my freshman team was kicked off the field at 5

p.m. by [field ambassadors],” Deats said. “But there was no one there

coming to use it next. It was ludicrous.”

Perkins also had a negative experience with Sipes and the

scheduling of the football field within the track at Costa Mesa

during the fall.

Perkins said he made Sipes aware the Costa Mesa High football team

would be using the practice field on a Saturday. Perkins made the

city aware three weeks prior to the practice because he knew AYSO

would be holding a tournament at the school. Perkins made the request

so the city could adjust accordingly.

But Perkins’ request was denied, Perkins said.

“Ken Sipes gets back to me and said AYSO has been holding the

tournament for a long time, and that, ‘they have precedence over your

football practice,’ ” Perkins said. “My comment to him was Costa Mesa

has had a football team since 1948. I could have went out there and

made a problem about it, but I didn’t.”

“That’s the way it is,” he said. “AYSO does pay to use the fields.

Costa Mesa High does not pay. We lost out a day of practice.”

Maintenance and scheduling are not the only problems. Coaches or

people within athletics have also caused conflict, Castellanos said.

“People duplicate the keys and everybody has keys,” Castellanos

said. “It will always happen. It’s really a waste of time to re-key a

gym. As long as we have athletics, we’re always going to have those

kinds of problems, but that’s why you have a joint-use agreement, so

that both sides understand what the game plan is. What makes it not

work is when coaches don’t abide by it.”