Hanover
There had been discussion during the board’s previous two weekly meetings about posting the warrant this year. However, the group adopted a proposed $26.5 million budget for next school year that does not include funds for the field project. That’s a 1.9 percent increase over last year.
“We don’t want to make a rash decision and lay a new carpet over a faulty foundation and have to roll it back up and redo it,” said Jay Badams, superintendent of SAU 70, which oversees the Hanover, Norwich and Dresden school districts. “Let’s hold off for a year and do this right while keeping the kids safe.”
Dresden business administrator Jamie Teague and facilities head Tony Daigle, each in their second year on the job, sounded the same note. Artificial turf fields begin to need replacement after roughly 10 years, they said, but emphasized that they believed Merriman-Branch is still safe for competitors.
“We’re trying to run a school and its sports programs, and we need to have the timing right and schedules laid out before we make a decision,” Daigle told the board. “A year, I think, is a good waiting period.”
Daigle said a maintenance contractor worked on the artificial turf in 2015 and again last fall. The plan is for two more such visits this year, one in the spring and another in the fall. The work involves decompacting and cleaning the rubber and sand infill that lies among the artificial grass blades, making seam repairs and adding infill to high-traffic areas. Depending on whether such work is then checked by a third party, its cost ranges from $2,500 to $3,400 per visit.
A test last fall on 10 spots around Merriman-Branch Field showed only one, in its very center, where the infill had thinned enough to be a significant concern, Daigle said. The football, field hockey and boys and girls soccer and lacrosse teams play at the facility, 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.
In a Jan. 21 document written for the school board, Daigle listed three possible options for solving the drainage problem “once geotechnical evaluation results are final.” Those option costs climb from $355,000 to $490,000 and then to $675,000, depending on how much work will be needed. A new turf field, which would be purchased in conjunction with any of those possibilities, is estimated to cost $425,000.
The low end of the overall field work is $780,000, and the high end is $1.1 million. Daigle said no work should be necessary for the earth on which the artificial turf sits.
“The repair guys have told me the turf has held up well, and that’s a testament to the product,” Daigle said, adding that he hopes to reduce the cost of a new surface by having the existing infill cleaned and redistributed upon it.
Mike Jackson, Hanover High’s athletic director since 1989, is retiring after the current school year. He said during a Tuesday telephone interview that not having Merriman-Branch available during the school year “would be disastrous for us in terms of scheduling.”
He recalled the athletic department’s struggles to find enough useable field space in Hanover and Norwich before artificial turf was installed.
The athletic director said he only learned of Merriman-Branch Field’s drainage problems from Daigle last year. The facilities head, however, said he noticed erosion around a manhole cover just beyond the turf’s southeast end as soon as he began working for Dresden in June 2016. Teague last week described that area as “a minor sinkhole,” and Daigle said he mentioned it to Jackson not long after he arrived.
“He must have talked with my predecessor (Jonathan Brush) about it,” said Daigle, who told the board on Tuesday that he believed the erosion has been present for at least five years and possibly as long as 10. “But when I asked Mike about it, he said ‘Yeah, yeah, there’s some kind of hole down there that buildings and grounds fills in once in a while.’ ”
Daigle said conversations and records have shown him that the plateau upon which Merriman-Branch Field sits was created during the 1970s, where a ravine and brook had previously been visible. A Town of Hanover storm water pipe and sewer line were placed under the original smaller field, which served as home for the Marauders’ field hockey team, Daigle said.
Renovations during 2003 expanded Merriman-Branch Field’s footprint and led to the installation of artificial turf but didn’t update the original drainage and sewer infastructure beneath it, Daigle said.
In the Jan. 21 document, Daigle wrote that “the unknown variables are whether or not any of the (repair) costs can/should be shared with the Town and/or Dartmouth College, depending on the easements which may exist for draining storm water which is not produced by the district.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.