AUGUSTA — City councilors voted unanimously to spend $260,000 to replace old bleachers, help build a new concession stand and make improvements to the playing surface and lighting at Alumni Field at Cony High School.
Proponents said the improvements to the 20-year-old field are needed and would bring in an additional $110,000 in donations of materials and labor to make even more privately funded upgrades at the athletic complex, including new bathrooms, new ticket booths and an arched entryway.
None of the money would come from this year’s budget, which councilors just approved last week. But the funding would come from two Cony-related accounts controlled by the city, one of which is made up of privately donated money originally meant to help build the new Cony High School. Councilors have the final say on whether and how that money would be spent.
Councilor David Rollins, chairman of the Alumni Field study committee, said builder Paul Rodrigue has pledged, in honor of his late wife, to contribute and raise private donations of materials and labor to make additional improvements at Alumni Field, including new bathrooms. Rodrigue’s late wife, Maureen, was a secretary at Cony High School until her death from cancer last year.
Rollins said donations are already coming in. He noted Rodrigue has already built and donated a softball field to the school.
“As we kick off this project, the community has already come forward,” Rollins said. “This has got the potential to be a very energizing, uniting project for this town. It’s not just improving a football field. It could be changing a community.”
Rollins said a groundbreaking for the project will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the field, the one-year anniversary of Maureen Rodrigue’s death.
Bleacher planks have broken during sporting events, causing at least one spectator to fall and fans using the bleachers, which were built in 1992, do so at the risk of getting splinters from the worn wooden planks, officials said.
A committee that studied the need for Alumni Field fixes recommended the city use $120,000 left unspent when Cony High School was built in 2006, money that was released to the city recently after a state audit of Cony construction funds, to buy the new bleachers. A total of about $285,000 is in the account of funds unspent during new Cony construction.
Councilor Patrick Paradis said previous estimates were $80,000 to repair the existing bleachers. He said it makes more sense to spend $120,000 for new, modern bleachers accessible by people with disabilities than to repair the older bleachers and risk them breaking again, possibly injuring a spectator.
The committee also recommended the other improvements be funded by $140,000 in Team Cony money left over from construction of the new school. Team Cony, a private group, raised more than $1.5 million to help build the new school — paying specifically for items such as a larger gymnasium and auditorium that the state would not have funded.
About $140,000 is still left in the account.
The Team Cony money would include about $25,000 to help start construction of new concession stands, which would be built with primarily donated labor and materials. The city would provide matching funds for the concession stand project.
The Team Cony money also would pay $5,000 for improvements to the playing surface, $60,000 for new lighting, $15,000 in electrical upgrades, $20,000 for audio system improvements and $10,000 for new football goal posts.
The total value of the finished product would be more than $371,000, including the $110,000 in expected private contributions.
The committee also recommends further study of eventually installing artificial turf at the field. Officials said the idea needs more study and would involve a major private fundraising campaign.
The committee suggests reserving the remaining $155,000 in unspent Cony construction money until a decision about whether to replace the grass at Alumni Field with artificial turf, or new grass, is made. If it is determined artificial turf is not feasible that $155,000 could be used to replace the playing surface at Alumni Field, which officials said does not drain properly and does not have an adequate crown to shed water, with a new conventional grass field.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
Comments are no longer available on this story