ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512250008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County and Radford received an early Christmas present this month from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant - practically free use of two ball fields for adult softball games and youth soccer practice.
But to local softball entrepreneur Jim Martin - who also is a 20-year arsenal employee and the county Planning Commission chairman - it amounted to a lump of coal.
Earlier this month, Alliant Techsystems Inc., the arsenal's commercial operator, notified the Radford and Montgomery parks and recreation departments that their proposal to use the two ball fields had been accepted after a "best value" review. The fields are reached from the arsenal's main entrance off Peppers Ferry Road.
That analysis had pitted the Montgomery and Radford joint proposal versus one from Martin, who 13 years ago built from scratch what's come to be known as the Vicker Switch Field.
Martin and his family run summer softball tournaments at the field, located between Christiansburg and Fairlawn. They had wanted to expand their tournament business into two side-by-side fields to run winners and losers brackets simultaneously. Martin said Wednesday he viewed his proposal as a way to both expand his business and to help reduce overhead for the arsenal by paying a fee to lease the fields. Martin said he was disappointed by Alliant's decision, but declined to comment further.
Harold L. "Chip" Batton Jr., the arsenal's program manager for defense conversion, prepared a one-page evaluation that ranked and compared the bids in six categories. Batton awarded the city and county 16 "best value" points to 13 for Martin.
The three-point difference came from the "public relations" category. The government proposal earned a full five points as providing the arsenal with "high public relations benefit." Martin's private-sector bid gained only two points. Meanwhile, his one-point advantage in the usage-fee category was negated by an unexplained one-point "discretionary" advantage to the two governments.
Montgomery County expects the contract with Alliant Techsystems to be finalized any day now. The Board of Supervisors voted Nov. 20 to pursue the ball-fields contract and learned Dec. 11 that it had won.
"It's a done deal and we're looking forward to playing there this spring," said Tom Bain, Montgomery's parks and recreation director. From 400 to 500 people participate in the county's mens and womens softball leagues, he said.
"Montgomery County and the city of Radford both, when the arsenal was downsizing, went to great lengths to support those people who were being laid off," Bain said. "I guess they looked at it as we helped them and it was their turn to help us. I think PR was the big key issue."
The arsenal fields will replace two county-owned ball fields that will be out of service this spring. The fields, located next to the Mid-County Landfill outside Christiansburg, have experienced settling problems. They are being leveled back off and reseeded, Bain said.
In return for the use of the arsenal fields, the county and city will make some minor repairs to players' seating, mow and maintain the fields and install some portable toilets.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB