Ormond Beach Renews 10-Year Wendelstedt School Lease

Ormond Beach's City Commission voted to renew its 10-year lease agreement with the Wendelstedt Umpire School during a meeting at City Hall on Wednesday, after a brief discussion over dollars and terms.

Wendelstedt's lease has been renewed.

According to the Ormond Beach Observer, City Commissioner Dwight Selby initially attempted to pull the resolution from the agenda, citing concerns about the compensation received from Wendelstedt for renting out the Ormond Beach Sports Complex for 45 days out of the year.

Said Selby, "Intuitively, I believe we, the city, are subsidizing this significantly."

Selby's math held Wendelstedt's payment of less than $4,500 to lease the property for 45 days to average out to less than $100 per day, which drew agreement as "too little" from Ormond Beach Youth Baseball and Softball Association Tee-Ball Director Doug Wigley, who thought the 10-year term was too long.

MLB Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.

Present at the meeting was the school's owner and operator, Hunter Wendelstedt, who estimated that the school's January and February presence bring in "anywhere from $1.6 to $1.8 million a year in economic development." He also pointed out that the school is only on the field for 29 days out of the 45.

After further comment from Commissioner Rick Boehm praising the school for doing more for the city than "literally any other organization you can think of...and they have for years" (the Wendelstedt School for Umpires is coming off of multiple 10-year leases with the city of Ormond Beach), the Commission met to discuss the matter, and ultimately voted—unanimously—to renew the school's contract and lease agreement.

The Wendelstedt School for Umpires, formerly the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School, was previously known as the Bill McGowan School for Umpires (founded 1938), and the Al Somers Umpire School.