December 18, 2007 12:24 am
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By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The Carl Junction R-1 Board of Education plans to upgrade a football field and build a new playground, but it has not yet approved a plan to pay for them.
The board Monday night approved three motions relating to the projects:
n Installation of synthetic turf at Bulldog Stadium.
n Slating a public hearing on terms of a lease-purchase plan.
n Seeking bids for new playground equipment.
Each motion was approved unanimously.
As part of its first motion, the board accepted a bid from General Sports Venue to install AstroTurf GameDay XPE 42 turf for $551,765. The price comprises a $506,385 base price, $34,380 to install track surfaces at the end zones, and $11,000 for new goal posts.
The field will feature a midfield “CJ” logo in white letters with red outlines, “Carl Junction” and “Bulldogs” in similar letters in the end zones, and soccer boundary lines, as well as standard football markings.
Superintendent Phil Cook said that by installing synthetic turf, the district can hold more athletic events at Bulldog Stadium and build a new playground at what now is the junior-high football field.
Assistant Superintendent David Stephens estimated the cost of new playground equipment to be anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000. The playground would be geared for second- through sixth-graders and would accommodate up to 300 pupils at a time.
Instead of going to voters for a bond issue, the board will consider a lease-purchase agreement to finance the projects. The total estimated cost of the projects is $751,765.
According to state law, a school board must conduct a public hearing before entering into a lease-purchase agreement.
The hearing will be held during the board’s next regular meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Carl Junction High School Media Center. Board members will choose a specific lease-purchase agreement, select a bid for the playground and discuss additional bleachers during that meeting.
Before voting in favor, board member Claudia Cox said she thought the district might be doing things backward by approving the plan before having the public hearing.
“If we approve the plan before having the hearing, I don’t think that is fair to the public,” she said. “It’s after the fact, and it doesn’t show a concern for citizens.”
Cook said the plan is similar to how the board approves a budget in June before assigning the district’s property levy in August. He said the district already makes similar payments for the high-school auditorium, which will be paid off in March 2010.
“It’s the same thing as paying off a car,” Cook said. “When people have paid off their car loan, they may go out and get another car, because they are used to making that payment.”
Board president Rob Herron said the public has known about the field for months.
“If people feel like we are ramrodding this, we have been discussing this for two or three months,” he said. “All we are doing is saying that this is what we have decided to do.”
Options
Superintendent Phil Cook said another option the board has is to pay for the synthetic turf out of reserves, or it could choose not to do the project at all.
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