FAIRFIELD TWP. — After questions arose about a trustee's potential conflict of interest, a vote was postponed this week to advertise for construction bids for a concession/maintenance/ restroom building in Millikin Road Park.

        The 1,400-square-foot facility is estimated to cost from $90,000 to $110,000, Township Administrator Ron Randolph said. The building, to include a pavilion area, is shown on the park's 1998 master plan. The vote was delayed Monday, however, after Trustee Joe McAbee abstained after questions raised by a resident and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

        Now trustees will seek a legal opinion on whether it would be proper for Mr. McAbee to vote on the matter.

        Mr. McAbee, who has volunteered with the Fairfield Youth Baseball Association for 12 years, confirmed Monday he has been paid $10 an hour since last spring by the association to organize college students who maintain the fields, and at times has done the work himself.

        The FYBA, a community baseball and softball organization for about 1,600 youths in Fairfield and Fairfield Township, has an agreement with the township to maintain the park from March to October, Mr. Randolph said.

        Mr. McAbee and FYBA president Rod Lashley said Mr. McAbee began taking care of the park's grounds last spring because no one else stepped forward. The park sits on 20 acres behind the Fairfield Township administration building along Morris Road.

        He said he earned from $6,000 to $8,000 last year from the FYBA and expects to earn about that this year. He spends most of his time at the FYBA's other fields at a park in Fairfield, he said.

        “I'm insulted at the idea that I would benefit from something that I'm voting for,” Mr. McAbee said Mon
day. “I am doing what is in the best interest of the community. There is no conflict, but I want to make sure the perception of a conflict is taken away.”

        Without Mr. McAbee's vote, the building may not be built. Mr. McAbee and Trustee Mark Sutton are in favor of the facility, but Trustee Steve Morgan is opposed. He said he doesn't think the center is necessary and costs too much. He also noted there already are restrooms and concession stands in the park.

        The township built the restrooms in 1998 for $65,000, and the concession stand — a mobile, temporary one — was built and paid for in 2001 by FYBA.

        A resident, Jerry Massey, distributed fliers questioning whether it would be a conflict of interest for Mr. McAbee to vote on the project since he keeps the grounds for the FYBA fields.

        Parents watching their children play softball at the park Monday night said they wanted the new building because the restrooms are too far away — about 150 feet — from the fields now. A portable toilet sits between the fields and the concession stand.

        “It would be safer and more convenient,” township resident Jeff Houk said.

        Mr. Lashley agreed, saying a new concession stand also is needed to offer more items for sale.

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