OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Residents of Old Orchard Beach will find out in over two weeks whether they will have their own summer baseball team playing at The Ballpark.

The Old Orchard town council met with representatives of the Lowell All-Americans of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) in a  two hour workshop on Wednesday night. Doug Ayotte, the son of current Lowell general manager Harry Ayotte, who is spearheading the potential move to Old Orchard, said his “drop dead date” is the end of the month for the town to decide if they want NECBL baseball in Old Orchard, as any decision after that might have the ramifications of losing potential coaches, players, and business marketers, meaning the chance for Old Orchard to have NECBL baseball – at least for the 2011 season – would be slim-to-none.

Paul Crossman of The Ballpark Commission said the group and Ayotte have been in talks for six weeks. However, the first hour of the workshop spewed a heated debate between councilors, the commission and town manager Jack Turcotte over a lack of information made to the council.

Councilor Shawn O’Neil said he didn’t know of a potential deal between the town and Ayotte over an NECBL team until Wednesday night, and both he and councilor Robin Dayton openly asked Turcotte about a June report stating The Ballpark was making the town lose money – $33,000 worth – a report to which Turcotte said was “inaccurate.”

O’Neil, Dayton and councilor Mike Tousignant also said they did not hear of a proposal being brought to the council until the last minute, Friday for Tousignant and Wednesday night for O’Neil and Dayton, which she said made her feel that the whole process was being “greatly rushed.” All of the councilors, who were without councilor Laura Bolduc, who was on vacation, appeared to be interested in the potential move, with O’Neil saying he was in favor of the move, but the council were not fans of the speed to which the deal needs to be made.

Dayton asked Ayotte if the council could wait on a decision until the Oct. 5 meeting, and Ayotte said it was not a decision for him to make, but that of his coaches, players and financial backers. The council, and Turcotte, agreed to have a letter of intent on the proposal at the Sept. 21 council meeting as a way to help ease the burden on Lowell management, before a final decision is made.

The proposal – which is a draft of a potential deal – states the town would be paid a non-refundable amount of $10,000 for usage of The Ballpark, which Ayotte stated would be by far the highest deal of any town within the NECBL. As examples, Ayotte said some of the NECBL towns, such as Holyoke, pay management to have the team in town. On top of the $10,000 from the usage fee, the proposal states that the town would receive 75 percent of all revenue from food and beverage concessions, while the final 25 percent goes to the team to help offset operating costs. The team has also agreed, under the proposal, to donate kitchen appliances for use in the concession stands, such as a cooktop, freezer, large popcorn maker and an oven.

Should the team be able to sell beer at The Ballpark, the team has agreed to give 10 percent of beer sales to the town as well. The team is also willing to give the town 10 percent of all ticket sales and season ticket sales. The NECBL and all of its teams are 501(c3) non-profit organizations, meaning the team would only use money used for operating costs and upkeep of The Ballpark, not for any potential profit.

The All-Americans finished with a 15-27 record last season, and had difficulty attracting fans, as Lowell finished last in the league in attendance, averaging 180 fans per game, which prompted the move. Ayotte said Lowell management decided on Old Orchard for a potential destination after its game against the Sanford Mainers at The Ballpark during the regular season, which attracted about 1,000 fans.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.