Should owners of new Hagerstown stadium get same protections as local government?

Hagerstown is getting a new ballpark downtown, the state is paying the bills, and now the future stadium’s owners and operators are asking the state’s legislators to provide the legal protections of a local government.

A bill, the Local Government Torts Claim Act, or Senate Bill 849, has been proposed to give the Hagerstown Multi–Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc., a nonprofit entity, the classification of a local government under state law, thereby limiting liability to $400,000 per individual claim.

Across the state, other stadiums are owned by governments. In Salisbury, for example, Arthur Perdue Stadium, the home of the minor league baseball team the Delmarva Shorebirds, is owned by Wicomico County. In Hagerstown, Maryland, the facility is set to be owned not by the city or county, but by a local nonprofit: the Hagerstown Multi–Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc.

State Sen. Paul Corderman, R-Washington/Frederick, who introduced the legislation this year, called that nonprofit “a subsidiary that was created within CHIEF” during a March 28 interview.

CHIEF, as explained in an October 2023 interview with the organization’s President Greg Snook, stands for County Hagerstown Industrial Expansion Foundation.

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“CHIEF was established in 1963 as a not-for-profit economic development organization,” according to the Washington County website.

Neither CHIEF nor the entity that is set to own the stadium upon its projected May completion have websites yet of their own. Snook was not available for comment for this article.

Corderman said the arrangement of having the industrial foundation own the stadium is “mirrored” after one in York, Pa., where the ballpark where the Atlantic League’s York Revolution team plays is owned by the York County Industrial Development Authority.

Hagerstown’s team, like York’s, is set to play in the Atlantic League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The first home game of the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars is scheduled for May 3.

Hagerstown’s sports facility “will not be owned by the city or county,” the legislative director for Corderman told the Maryland House Judiciary Committee during a bill hearing on Wednesday. “This Hagerstown facility is unique in the fact that while the state of Maryland is constructing it by way of the Maryland Stadium Authority, once completed it will be handed over to a local nonprofit,” she said.

Inquiries to both CHIEF’s office and attorney were not responded to by the time of filing.

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During the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Del. Karen Toles, D-Prince George’s, asked about the nonprofit designated in the Corderman-sponsored bill.

Toles, a former member of the Prince George’s County Council, has the home to the Bowie Baysox baseball team, Prince George’s Stadium, in the county she represents. That facility is owned through the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, one of the 29 entities listed in the bill as having “local government” liability protection under current law.

“They are an entity, a government entity, that receives state funding,” said Toles, referring to the commission during in an interview after the hearing, “therefore, you have that oversight.”

The commission announced the renewal of a 10-year lease with the Bowie Baysox in 2022. The lease was approved by the Prince George’s County Planning Board that same year.

There is also a section of the commission’s website that is dedicated to Maryland’s Public Information Act requests. That act, according to the website, “grants the public a broad right of access to records that are in the possession of State and local government agencies.”

“It has been a part of the Annotated Code of Maryland since its enactment as Chapter 698 of the Laws of Maryland 1970,” the commission’s website states.

Given its status as a nonprofit, it is unclear if CHIEF or its subsidiary, the Hagerstown Multi–Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc., would be required to follow public information act requests.

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State bill yet to be voted on by the House of Delegates

Corderman described this latest bill as part of a “domino effect” in the line of legislation to create the stadium.

A 2021 law authorized the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue up to $59.5 million in bonds for the purpose of financing acquisition, construction, renovation and other expenses for the facility.

A 2022 law changed the name of the entity that the Maryland Stadium Authority would enter into an agreement with for bonding purposes from the Hagerstown-Washington County Industrial Foundation, or CHIEF, to the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc. A Maryland Stadium Authority official wrote a letter of support for that change.

A 2023 law to increase the limit of additional Maryland Stadium Authority bonds that could be issued for the facility was approved.

At each step, the Maryland General Assembly, has moved nearly unanimously and the bills were approved by the state’s then-Gov. Republican Larry Hogan, and last year Democratic Gov. Wes Moore approved the increased bonding authority.

The bill to provide the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc. the legal protections of a local government is still before the Maryland General Assembly. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on March 18. As of March 28, a vote had not been scheduled in the House Judiciary Committee. Both chambers must pass a bill by April 8 for it to become a law.

Meanwhile, a livestream of the Hagerstown stadium being built under the direction of the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) is available online. When completed, the facility will be owned and operated by CHIEF, according to the stadium authority website, or the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Events Facility, Inc, according to the state law enacted in 2022.

“MSA is monitoring and taking no position on SB 849,” said Rachelina Bonacci, the Public Information Officer for the Maryland Stadium Authority, in an email.

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: State bill to limit liability for Hagerstown stadium owners considered