Children play baseball earlier this year at the Carl R. Wright Baseball complex, located behind the Skowhegan Community Center. A long-planned expansion project for an athletic facility at 39 Poulin Drive includes two sports fields, pickleball and tennis courts, a concession stand, new Little League field dugouts and a maintenance garage. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — Construction on a long-awaited baseball field in Skowhegan began in October, and town officials are now considering how to proceed with other aspects of the multimillion-dollar athletic complex project next to the town’s community center.

“Progress has been spectacular,” Steven Govoni, whose Skowhegan engineering firm is contracted as clerk of works for the current phase of the project, said at Tuesday’s select board meeting. Govoni, who is also a Skowhegan selectman, noted during Tuesday’s project update that he was speaking as a member of the public, not in his elected capacity.

Work on the baseball field began Oct. 1 after the Skowhegan officials contracted with Ranger Construction Corp. of Fairfield in September.

Ranger’s bid, approximately $2.3 million plus a 10% contingency, covers the first phase of construction of the complex at 39 Poulin Drive. It includes a regulation size sod baseball field that also fits a regulation size soccer field, an access road, a parking lot, sewer and water lines for the entire project, demolition of the dugouts at existing Little League fields and other infrastructure.

The baseball field, deemed a top priority among town officials, is projected to be finished by spring of 2026. In the past year, local teams were left without a home field after the town sold Memorial Field on Heselton Street to Maine School Administrative District 54 for its new elementary school construction project.

So far, construction crews have been working on the grade for the baseball field, Govoni told the select board. The goal is to get the area within one foot of the finished grade by the end of this year.

Grading for the road is also underway, Govoni said, and work on a retention pond, part of the drainage system at the site, is about 85% done.

While excavating, workers hit bedrock, requiring removal of about 132 cubic yards of material. That came with an additional cost of about $33,000, although that falls within the 10% contingency of the total project.

Among other ongoing work, Govoni said he is seeking pricing for lighting at the complex and for the irrigation system for the grass baseball field, which he expects to present to town officials later this month.

Work on the current phase is also setting up the next phases of construction at the athletic complex, for which planning began in 2006.

“By the time that we walk out of this site, that one will be ready to go, including all of the connections and everything else,” Govoni said.

Other parts of the project include another multipurpose field, tennis and pickleball courts, a concession stand, new dugouts at existing Little League fields, a maintenance garage and other infrastructure.

Govoni said he is seeking a final master plan for the site from the project’s engineer, Plymouth Engineering Inc. of Newport. That will allow the town to seek pricing for the next two phases of construction — the other playing field and the pickleball and tennis courts — either through an addendum to the existing contract or through another bid process.

“We’re not at that stage yet,” Govoni said.

With pricing in hand, town officials would be able to finalize the use of $3 million in Congressionally Directed Spending, a form of funding previously known as an “earmark,” which was signed into law in March.

So far, the current construction phase has been funded by $1.9 million from the sale of Memorial Field to MSAD 54, a $200,000 donation from New Balance and several hundred thousand dollars in capital reserves set aside for the project.

The town must submit a project description and budget to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency administering the funding, for review before receiving the funds, a HUD spokesperson said previously. The $3 million is designated for a “Community Center Complex,” in the appropriations bill. The original project proposal the town submitted to Maine’s Congressional delegation does not require HUD review.

A finalized plan would also let engineers wrap up permitting requirements with the state, Govoni said. Adjustments to the initial permit issued in 2006 are necessary as parts of the project have changed.

Town officials will also soon need to consider whether to continue contracting Govoni’s firm, Wentworth Partners & Associates, as the clerk of works for the next phases of construction. The $60,000 contract is only for overseeing the phase including the baseball field and other infrastructure, although Govoni said he and his business partner, George Bell, have exceeded that already in preparing for the next phases.

Select board member Amber Lambke asked that the matter be discussed at the board’s next scheduled meeting on Nov. 26.

“I certainly understand there’s a conflict of interest,” Govoni said. “So, if that’s something that needs to go back out to bid, then so be it.”