Hanover
The board discussed the issue for nearly an hour on Tuesday at the second of three budget meetings in as many weeks. It will hold the final gathering in the series next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Hanover High library. Dresden, which manages Hanover High and shares authority over the Richmond Middle School, is projected to spend $26.5 million, a 1.9 percent increase, in the upcoming school year.
Board chairman Neil Odell said it’s clear the field work needs to be completed either this year or next. He added that while it’s possible the board could request some of the necessary funds this year and some next year, he sees that as problematic and sensed his peers mostly felt the same.
“Let’s say you do that and the first piece passes and then, next year, the next part doesn’t pass,” said Odell, who opened discussion of the field issue by recommending to wait a year to place a warrant article. “I feel like, at this stage of the game, we don’t have all the information needed to make an informed decision. How much is going to be done and what’s it going to cost us?”
Said board member Jim Mackall: “These numbers are going to shock a lot of the voters.”
Hanover High’s football, field hockey and boys and girls soccer and lacrosse teams play on the field, which is located behind and below the school building. The baseball and softball teams also use the location for early-season practices before their fields are ready. Various teams from surrounding towns practice or play there on occasion.
Merriman-Branch’s artificial turf is made by a company that recommends its product be replaced every 10 years, as was recently done at Dartmouth’s Memorial Field. Dresden business administrator Jamie Teague said the artificial turf itself should cost about $450,000, but what’s uncertain is how much drainage repair work needs to be done and at what cost.
“We know only one (drainage) section has an issue, but we don’t know what method to use to repair it,” she said, adding that the drainage and turf work is estimated to take 2-3 months, but that if it’s projected to take longer, spring sports teams likely would be displaced.
Teague, who’s been on the job 18 months, said at last week’s meeting that she doesn’t think the field will become unusable or unsafe during the next year but noted there’s “a minor sinkhole” near one of the football goalposts. She said a conservative estimate for total repairs and replacement would be around $750,000, but that number could increase to $1.1 million if complete drainage rerouting was needed.
Teague estimated that the district’s annual payments for the field project would be $120,000 a year for 10 years if that higher estimate came to pass. She said towns can write warrant articles that specify approved money for a project is not to exceed a certain amount.
It’s hoped that soil samples soon to be taken from the field will be analyzed within a month and that information from them will give the board a more accurate idea of the work needed and its cost, Teague said.
Odell said the design and construction of Hanover High’s new softball facility, which opened last season in Norwich, resulted in cost overruns and said that experience made him want to proceed carefully on the Merriman-Branch project.
“I don’t think there is necessarily a rush to get this work done for this coming year,” said Odell, adding that Teague and district director of facilities Tony Daigle share his point of view. “I don’t believe there are any safety concerns for the teams that play there.”
Hanover High principal Justin Campbell said at last week’s meeting that the artificial surface’s manufacturer conducts an annual compression test, which the Merriman-Branch field narrowly passed last autumn. Teague said on Tuesday that such tests are conducted once a year and that the most recent visit cost $3,250 and indicated two specific problem areas on the field, both of which could be remedied fairly easily. Teague said she would seek to provide costs for those fixes at next week’s meeting.
“You do it to find out if someone falls on the field and hits their head, is there enough give?” Campbell said. “We passed, but I wouldn’t want to stand up and say the turf field is good to go for another year, because I don’t know that.”
Doug Kennedy has coached Hanover’s varsity girls soccer team for 10 years and said on Tuesday he’s surprised the school district didn’t gradually accumulate money in a maintenance fund for use after the field’s 10-year mark. Odell said the district is not allowed to do so.
The field has “definitely changed over time, and it’s changed the way we play,” Kennedy said. The field “plays much faster now, and the ball skips on it. The whole thing is definitely worn down, and there are spots where it’s clearly going to rip up soon, and that would be a real problem.”
Rob Grabill, Hanover’s 12th-year boys varsity soccer coach, said on Tuesday the surface’s wear has resulted in depressions in some spots and raised areas in others. The tiny pieces of shredded, black rubber that make up the field’s base have also become unevenly distributed, he said, adding that some lines needed for various sports are so faded, they’re barely visible.
“We’ve played on fields so nice that the ball moves on them like a puck on an air hockey table and on ones that are unmaintained and dangerous,” Grabill said. “We’ve seen unsafe fields, and ours isn’t there yet, but it’s moving in that direction.”
Kennedy recalled playing on Oyster River High’s new artificial surface last year and how its fresh fibers and fill cushioned and slowed the ball compared to what his players are used to. He said Hanover’s surface is noticeably less spongy than it once was and worried that players may be landing with harder impacts on it these days.
“Our surface is supposed to simulate grass, and now it’s just more like a rug,” Kennedy said. “All you have to do is walk across the street to Dartmouth’s football field and see how it’s supposed to be.”
Said Grabill: “The bottom line for any coach or game official is safety. We just want to return the kids safely to their parents.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.