To help the Island’s various clubs resolve turf conflicts and get sports clubs talking to one another, the city hired the same parks facilitator who managed the Luther Burbank Master Planning sessions a few years ago.

During four mediation sessions last spring, the Norton Arnold & Company was paid about $7,500 to bring the youth soccer club, both boys and girls lacrosse and the Boys & Girls Club to the table. The city’s facility scheduler, Merrill Schadt, also attended the sessions. Parks and Recreation Director Pete Mayer said that things were improving as a result, with the greatest lesson from the sessions being that the clubs realized they all shared the same issues. Another measure that officials hope will help to resolve field issues resulted from the district’s promise to the city in exchange for fully funding six non-academic counselors. The athletic director of the high school, Craig Olson, now attends the ballfield group meetings.

In October, the Reporter published a story containing e-mails sent from Mayer to the school district in the fall of 2007 that showed there was some animosity between clubs and the district. Since that time, club directors said that they have been meeting regularly as the Ballfield User Group to resolve field availability and rental issues.

Mercer Island Youth Soccer Club’s executive vice president and field scheduler, Julie Crow, said a lot of work has been accomplished toward resolving field issues. However, she stated that she has spent years advocating for an official school district policy that incorporates the agreement with the city to share the stadium with local clubs. She said the lack of such a transparent policy has caused much of the problem and developing one would be a positive change.

“What we need to do is continue to push for fair and transparent policies that are applied to all and open communication and cooperation between all parties [the district, high school, city and community users],” Crow said.

Schadt echoed the need to familiarize clubs and school teams with communicating their needs, and it has helped to fill in schedule gaps and increase the overall usage at the stadium.

“When a game is scheduled for 10 a.m., the teams show up at 9 to warm up and want the field,” Schadt said. “Also, the parking lot gets packed then. So it’s about getting the teams to talk to one another, and people seem open to that.”

She added that she may need to encourage one team to start a practice 15 minutes earlier or a referee end a game based on the field schedule instead of the game clock.

As a result, more time on the field becomes available and clubs are more satisfied.

“From a scheduling point of view, it’s figuring out how to fill the gaps when you can’t fit in a game,” Schadt said of efforts to increase field usage at Islander Stadium.