CHESAPEAKE BEACH, Md. – Over the course of the last four (4) weeks there has been an abundance of anger directed at the Town related to the Beach Buccaneers Youth Club’s use of Kellam’s field. This anger is in direct response to the continued misrepresentation of facts related to the Town’s longstanding support of youth sports programs.
The Beach Buccaneers leaderships “calls to action” have resulted in public slandering of Town employees, threatening of Town employees and tying up Town resources to respond to inaccurate and divisive narratives. The purposeful division between the organization and Town was further formalized when team leadership denied Town representatives the ability to present the team with grant funding of $5,000 on the behalf of the citizens of Chesapeake Beach at the pep rally, a presentation that is customary for the Town each year.
The following provides information related to Kellam’s field and details how the Town of Chesapeake Beach provides valuable resources to Youth Sports programs.
Ownership of Kellam’s complex: The citizens of the Town of Chesapeake Beach own and maintain the Kellam’s complex, paying all direct and indirect costs for the ball field, parking areas, concessions, and playground for public use. Maintenance of the Kellam’s complex is not new for the Town, having continually covered all costs to maintain the complex under an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners, who owned half of the field. At the same time, the Town owned the other half of the field. The agreement with the Board of County Commissioners established that the Town held the responsibility for maintaining the entire complex regardless of ownership. However, per the Town’s request, on October 2020, the Board of County Commissioners effectively conveyed ownership of the one additional parcel of land (“Parcel F”), which concluded the Towns ownership of the entire Kellam’s complex, including the ball field. This conveyance was mainly due to an awareness that the area required significant capital improvements to address nuisance flooding to keep play surfaces in a suitable condition.
The Town spends on average $150,000 in direct costs annually to maintain the field for youth sports. These costs do not include grants the Town issues to the team, salaries and wages for staff time to manage field operations, nor do they include any costs that the Town incurs to administer any Town-initiated recreational activities on the field.
- In Fiscal Year 2025 (which runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025) the Town has budgeted $350,000 in funds for improvements to prepare the field for youth sports. These costs include capital projects to complete the installation of a storm drain to alleviate water issues on the field and improvements to the concession stand and the annual costs to maintain the field.
- In Fiscal Year 2024 (which ran from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024) the Town spent approximately $110,000 in funds for playing surface maintenance and the installation of new LED bulbs in all the ball field lights.
Youth Sports Team access to the field for organized practices and games: The Town enters into agreements with non-profit youth teams via the “Youth Sports Provider” (YSPs) agreement, which establishes the procedures for using the field for practices and games at no cost to the teams. With a schedule submitted to the Town for final approval, YSPs receive access to the field, scheduled amenities, and approximately 380 parking spaces. The YSPs must serve the public’s benefit, transparently report their financials, and comply with all federal, state, and local regulations for non-profits.
In addition to annual Form 990 reporting requirements, the IRS also places requirements on non-profits that apply to YSPs due to the amount of tax-free money and public resources supporting them. For this reason, YSPs are expressly prohibited from engaging in any political activity, both as an organization and through the entity’s representatives (including the principal officer(s) and the board of directors). Under the Internal Revenue Code, “all section 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office”. This includes the federal, state and local Town of Chesapeake Beach elections. “Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes” (IRS, 2024). The Town takes these requirements seriously, as should any non-profit utilizing Town resources.
Table 1: Publicly accessible information related to the Beach Buccaneers per the YSP agreement
| Youth Sports Club | Public Financial and Non-Profit Information |
| Beach Buccaneers Youth Club | 2023 Federal Form 990 click here. 2021 Federal Form 990 click here. 2018 Federal Form 990 click here. 2016 Federal Form 990 click here. View the Board of Director approved budget. |
The YSP agreement ensures certain public protection for youth, such as background checks for coaches and reporting and communication requirements. Additionally, the agreement has consistently required that the Town formally approve all activities in the Kellam’s complex. This means that vendors cannot sell items or services on public property without review and approval by the Town. The Town is the only entity that can provide this review, no other entity is authorized or has ever been authorized to make decisions on the Town’s behalf.
The Beach Buccaneers presented information to the Town and were approved by the Town to hold their Homecoming games at Kellam’s field on Saturday, October 12th, 2024, which included hosting approved food trucks for the event. The Town worked with the Beach Buccaneers Youth Club to permit any food truck that the team sent to the Town to operate during homecoming, turning permits around in less than 24 hours to keep them moving forward. The Town communicated with the vendors that all permit fees would be waived if the food trucks documented how they would contribute to the team through their sales. We are happy to report that all food trucks met this requirement and reported their agreement to contribute proceeds back to the Beach Buccaneers Youth Club.
The Beach Buccaneers scheduled additional vendors and equipment delivery to Kellam field without providing any notice to the Town or requesting approval per the executed YSP agreement. The Town has notified the team’s Board of Directors verbally and in writing on several occasions that approval is required for all activities on the field. The Town sent a recap email to the Board of Directors in preparation for the pep rally and homecoming to confirm logistics for the upcoming events. The message to the board included notice of the final list of approved food vendors, confirmation that no other vendors have been reviewed and approved by the Town, and confirmation that the Town cannot authorize moon bounces on the field due to the recent tragedy at the Blue Crab stadium. The Board of Directors did not respond to the Town and instead opted to set a moon bounce up at the homecoming game without regard for the Town’s requirements. As a result of these actions, Town staff working on the day of the event required the moon bounce to be removed from the field. To date, the Town has been provided with no information on the company that entered the town property and set up the moon bounce without authorization from the Town.
Importance of Vendor agreements and insurance requirements: Just like all jurisdictions, when there are events held on public property, the Town follows a review and approval process for vendors. The Town follows this process for all events. These requirements include, but are not limited to, making the Town aware of the items the vendor plans to sell or provide as a service to patrons, providing the Town with a certificate of insurance (COI) that lists the Town as an additional insured at pre-defined monetary limits, a copy of the vendor’s business license and proof of health department certification (if applicable). The Town also requires the execution of an agreement between the Town and the vendor to ensure that the vendor understands and will abide by processes and procedures for selling items on public property. In addition, specifically on Kellams field, depending on the vendor set up there also may be a requirement for the Town to mark sprinkler heads and to designate vendor placement to avoid infrastructure damage and added cost to the Town. Further, the Town reviews emergency ingress and egress before any event where vendors are planning to set up.
Concession stand improvements and operation: The Town has worked over the last several months to invest $50,000 in improvements to the Town-owned concession stand at Kellam’s field at no cost to YSP’s to ensure that the space can be food service certified, a certification that is a new designation and significant improvement for the Town at Kellam’s. The Town thanks long-time Town business owner, Gary Luckett, for his work to make improvements expeditiously and resourcefully. Thanks to Gary and the financial support of the Town Council, we have taken a facility that no health inspector would certify and turned it into a sparkling clean concession stand. The Town has updated the community on the status of the concession stand in the Town’s weekly eblasts and updated the public on Friday October 11th that the concession stand is complete, and equipment delivered; however, the stand cannot be finalized for final use until the Health Department provides final approval of the space and equipment on site. The Town provided the opportunity to coordinate with the Beach Buccaneers on a one-day event license in the concession stand if certified by the health department, but the Town did not receive information from the team to review and process for use during homecoming.
The Town supports our local youth and has a responsibility to make the best decisions possible with public assets, with the information presented, and in the best interest of all citizens.
The Town of Chesapeake Beach remains an amazing community for our local youth in Chesapeake Beach, and beyond.
