Library, Perdue Stadium to go before Wicomico County Council

SALISBURY, Md. – Ahead of Tuesday night’s County Council meeting, Wicomico Public Library Executive Director Seth Hershberger expected to take the next step in the Library’s move to the former location of the Ward Museum, with a resolution that would declare the Sarbanes branch a surplus property of the county, paving the way for the county and the state university system to essentially exchange properties.

“Ultimately, we’re moving forward as we had planned to do with the full transfer of ownership of both properties,” Hershberger said.

Also on the agenda, two public hearings for resolutions that would enable new renovations at Arthur Perdue Stadium.

The first: accepting $900,000 from the state of Maryland for scoreboard improvements.

“We’re very grateful that the state was able to allocate some funding and make some improvements, and that’s part of many, many improvements that are happening at the stadium, so that’s a small piece of a much bigger project,” said Steve Miller, director of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism for Wicomico County.

Miller said they had funds allocated for replacing the boilers at the stadium in the FY24 budget, and that money went unused after the state decided they would cover it: “Because of that, that freed up those funds. And so the request tonight is ‘Can we use those funds to make the field improvements?’ which are required, which we didn’t currently have funding for.”

Miller said big things are coming in the form of $28 million from the state for other renovations at Perdue Stadium, in order to bring it in compliance with updated standards from the MLB.

“We’re fortunate that the state of Maryland sees the value and is investing in the way that they are. And we’re very grateful and very excited to see all these things come in the next year,” Miller said.

According to Miller, they’re working with the Maryland Stadium Authority to get Arthur Purdue Stadium up to ‘Professional Development League Compliance,’ upgrades they’ll have to make to keep their affiliation with the Orioles as a single-A franchise.

The new stadium requirements go back to 2020, when Major League Baseball reduced its number of minor-league affiliates. Some of those required changes will include moving the bullpens off the field and having female locker rooms for female umpires.