AUGUSTA — City workers tore down bleachers while a mason lined up bricks for new ticket booths Friday at Cony High School’s Alumni Field, part of efforts to spruce up the stadium before the fall football season.
The 20-year-old wooden bleachers were nearly gone by mid-afternoon to make way for new aluminum seating with Cony-red risers, said Paul Rodrigue, a retired builder who is volunteering his time on the project.
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“There will be a little character to the bleachers,” he said.
Once fans enter the field under a new archway, there will be new restrooms on the right and a new concession stand on the left. Rodrigue is aiming to have the work finished by the first home football game, scheduled for Sept. 7.
Councilor David Rollins, chairman of the Alumni Field study committee, said work is progressing as planned, with new lighting and audio work to begin soon. Once the lights are upgraded, costs to run them will drop from $60,000 a year to $20,000, he said.
That will complete the first phase, with a second phase of work scheduled for next year to include an expansion of the building behind the bleachers for more storage and on-field locker rooms, Rodrigue said.
Rodrigue, who already has built and donated a softball field to the school, is volunteering his building and fundraising skills to the project in honor of his late wife, Maureen, a Cony school secretary.
In June, the City Council approved spending $120,000 on the new bleachers, with the money coming from donations that were raised but not spent on the new Cony High School in 2006. Money to cover other costs will come from Team Cony, a private group that raised more than $1.5 million to help build the new school, Rollins said.
Rollins said the intention is to make Team Cony an ongoing fund that can be used for future needs, including enhancements to the school library, the auditorium and eventually, a turf surface on the football field. A multipurpose field could be used for other sports and by adult recreation leagues, he said.
Plans are under way for a community meeting in September to launch those efforts, he said.
“The scope of this project goes well beyond football,” he said.
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