WINTER HAVEN -- City Manager Carl Cheatham has been negotiating with Sherwinn-Williams Corp., the paint makers, to come up a plan to put a fresh coat on the Baseball Dome, the city's biggest eyesore.
Possible solutions include, of course, a new coat of paint but Cheatham hopes to work out a deal with Sherwin-Williams to keep the cost down or maybe get the job done for free.
Even though the facility is painted to look like a baseball, Cheatham said long-time locals refer to the facility as the "Orange Dome," because it was painted like an orange years ago, prior to the city manager moving here 14 years ago.
About six years ago the city commission thought it would be great publicity to paint the dome to look like a baseball and a contractor was hired to do the job for $45,000.
Cheatham said Sherwinn-Williams Paints experts came to town from Cleveland, peeled off some of the old paint down to the sealant and recommended a new type of paint.
"Within two years it started looking terrible," said Cheatham.
The city manager said Sherwinn-Williams is aware of the situation, how bad the dome looks and the fact that their paint was used.
"Consequently, they are interested in participating with us to some degree in correcting the dome," said Cheatham. "The local manager said he would make calls to his corporate headquarters to see what could be worked out."
Rock Arnold, Sherwinn-Williams Regional Manager of Distribution in Winter Haven, said the company's marketing division had the specifications of the dome and he was going to consult with experts at the Winter Haven store to see if the job should be done from scratch, meaning sandblasting.
"We also have some laboratory people in Orlando who could come over and inspect the job to see what is needed," said Arnold. "We have the ball rolling now."
Cheatham wasn't yet sure what Sherwinn-Williams might offer to remedy the situation, however, he said the addition of the paint company's logo was mentioned.
"I told him there were any number of possible trade-offs," said Cheatham. "The main thing was to be an ambassador of Sherwinn-Williams, because it's your paint."
Arnold indicated that his company was willing to discuss making a deal with the city.
"There's any number of possibilities," said Arnold. "We could put up a Cleveland Indians logo, a Winter Haven logo and a Sherwinn-Williams logo. As for costs, that would depend on our corporate office."
Both Arnold and Cheatham agreed that any solid agreements would have to be made between the city and Sherwinn-Williams at the corporate level.
