- April 15, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Mayor Bill Partington and former City Commissioner Rick Boehm. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach
Mayor Bill Partington, City Commissioner Susan Persis, former commissioner Rick Boehm, Dee Boehm and Krista Boehm. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach
Former City Commissioner Rick Boehm. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach
City Commissioner Susan Persis, Rick Boehm, Dee Boehm, Krista Boehm and Mayor Bill Partington unveil the Rick Boehm Girls' Softball Fields marker. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach.
Rick, Dee and Krista Boehm. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach
Rick Boehm and his family, along with members of the City Commission and community, pose for a groundbreaking photo. Photo courtesy of the city of Ormond Beach
The city of Ormond Beach dedicated the future girls' softball field at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex after former City Commissioner Rick Boehm, who has been a continuing advocate for quality leisure services in the city as well as having equal facilities for girls.
A proclamation from the June 1 dedication and groundbreaking ceremony detailed Boehm's role in the city's youth sports and recreation activities. Boehm began serving on the Leisure Services Advisory Board in 2004, and was elected to the City Commission in 2010. He retired from the commission in November 2018 and has since returned to serve on the Leisure Services Advisory Board.
The proclamation states that Boehm has campaigned for recreation interests in his various roles, including advocating for a more accessible playground for physically impaired children and aiding to form a Pop Warner football league.
“It was a really great day for Ormond Beach all the way around," Mayor Bill Partington said. "You couldn’t choose a better person to honor.”
The city has never had a designated regulation women's softball field, Boehm said. The girls and adult women who play the sport in the city have always had to use to the softball quad in the Sports Complex, which is designed for men's softball. When girls play, Boehm said the city puts temporary fencing around the field, but that it's not the same.
“I’ve thought for years that it’s a shortcoming in the city that should be overcome and that they should have something that’s theirs," Boehm said.
He's looking forward to the day the field is built and the first game is played out there.
Boehm said he was flattered to have a city facility be named after him, and that it felt gratifying that the Leisure Services Advsory Board felt he had done enough work with youth sports and recreation to merit that.
“It’s something of a lifetime achievement award, I guess you could call it," Boehm said.
