Plan to replace lights at QHS baseball, softball fields began with independent inspection

QUINCY — A visual inspection of facilities and a phone call from a concerned neighbor put the process in motion that resulted in the lights coming down at both the Quincy High School baseball and softball fields.

Neither facility will have lights for the spring season, news that became public last week as the light poles were brought down and softball coach Darrell Henze made a social media post about the situation that led to him being suspended and possibly terminated.

Henze wrote on the social media platform X, “Due to lack of foresight, deception, and improper planning, QHS Softball and Baseball will be without lights this season with no real plan as to when lights will be reinstalled.”

But there is a plan administrators within the Quincy Public Schools are currently working on — and have been since September — with the Illinois State Board of Education to properly direct health and life safety funds toward improving both facilities.

It started with a vision for a grand plan of improving the drainage and installing infield turf on both fields that required a closer inspection of the facilities.

Last September, Quincy Public Schools maintenance director Ryan Clair’s concerns over the stability and safety of the light poles led to him digging for paperwork of any past inspections of the poles. At the same time, the school received a phone call from an employee from Doors-N-More, which is located on the east side of South 36th Street across from the baseball facility’s left-field fence, about how one of the outfield light poles was leaning significantly.

That phone call came in the midst of Clair having conversations with Brown Electric regarding a full inspection, which was ordered and performed in early September.

Clair received the report from Brown Electric dated Sept. 16, 2024.

“The report goes through each pole and its location and they graded it on what they personally felt was really, really bad and what wasn’t as bad,” Clair said.

A majority of the poles were deemed unsafe and needed to be brought down. The idea of trying to get through another season before bringing the lights down was not an option.

“I can’t go by the what ifs, the maybes, the this and that. I can’t,” Clair said. “You have a report done by an independent contractor that pointed the facts out. If we try to squeeze through another season, the school district is liable for any issues that arise.”

Photos from the Brown Electric inspection of the light poles at the Quincy High School baseball and softball fields show the damage that forced the poles to come down. | Submitted photos

While Brown Electric was removing the poles last week, one of the left-field poles snapped in half because of the interior rot and damaged the outfield field.

It’s why the school district has limited access to the field during this process.

“We did instruct the P.E. classes to stay off the field,” Clair said. “They would use the open space in the outfield grass, but we advised them to stay away from the areas near the poles.”

At the same time, school administrators worked with Architechnics to submit an emergency health and life safety amendment to ISBE, which was submitted in early October. All health and life safety amendments have to be filed by an engineering firm or architect. An individual school employee cannot submit a request themselves.

The emergency amendment was denied because “it would not affect the cancellation of school and would not impact the overall educational structure.”

So the school submitted a standard health and life safety amendment, requesting $300,000 for new lights, which was ultimately approved.

The biggest difference in the two amendments is priority and turnaround time. Emergency health and life safety amendments get moved to the top of the pile and receive a response from ISBE typically within 24 hours. A standard healthy and life safety amendment could take weeks or months to be approved.

In October, while the amendments were being filed, the school district reached out to Musco Sports Lighting for quotes on new lights. The quote for the baseball field was $323,100 and the softball field was $200,501.

That forced QPS to refile the health and life safety amendment for an additional $223,000, which is still pending approval

It was during this process the school district asked Brown Electric for a quote on removing the lights and the poles. However, the rain in the fall left the outfield turf soft, and with certain poles having to be accessed from inside the fence, the implementation of the plan was delayed. The equipment needed to take down the poles would have cut ruts in the outfield.

The decision was made to wait until the ground was hard and there would be minimal damage from heavy machinery.

“There will be a little bit of work that needs done this spring to smooth some areas out,” Clair said.

Both fields will be playable this spring. They just won’t have lights at least not until June or July.

“I’m a Quincy High alumni,” said Clair, who also spent more than 15 years coaching within the wrestling program. “I know what our coaches do on a daily basis. I know what our student-athletes do on a daily basis. … I understand the impact of these decisions.

“If I felt we could have done something different, if I felt we could have felt we could have got this done, I hope people understand we would have done exactly that. The timing was horrible. Everyone understands that. But if we would have ignored it until the day after the season ended and something terrible happened, we just couldn’t let that happen.”