[NOTE: These minutes are made available to the public prior to Artificial Surface Football Field Advisory Committee acceptance.]
The meeting was held in the high school teacher's lounge at 7:30 p.m. Kathleen Bagley, Director, Recreation and Parks Department explained to committee members that Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien, could not attend tonight's meeting and asked Ms. Bagley to represent her at this meeting. Since Chairman John Cathcart could not attend the meeting, Ms. Bagley asked members if they would like her to conduct the meeting. All members agreed to let Ms. Bagley conduct tonight's meeting. Members present were Neil Brickley, Brian DiCiccio, Sheila Suppicich, Ron Rodd, Bill Dest and Jay Cottone. Town Council member, Julie Montinieri, also attended the meeting. Ms. Bagley asked if all members had a copy of the Agenda and a copy of the committee chairman's comments since he was unable to make tonight's meeting. All had received the e-mail information, except Bill Dest who did not receive the comments from the chairman.
Committee members discussed the different scenarios for improving the high school football field. Discussion included the synthetic infield surfacing, the location of the football/soccer field and the different options presented to the committee by the architect at the previous meeting. Committee members discussed the research each had done on the different synthetic fields throughout the state and their costs. Mr. Cottone explained the condition of the current high school athletic fields and reported that the fields at the school are not in the best of shape. Part of the discussion centered on whether or not the field could be constructed in time for September, 2004, and if that was a realistic timetable. Mr. Rodd explained his concerns about the location of the football field and thought looking at the DiCiccio Soccer Field might be an appropriate location for a new football stadium. A lot of a discussion was held on whether or not to improve Cottone Field or DiCiccio Field and different opinions were offered on this topic. Ms. Suppicich explained her background in lighting and felt an appropriate lighting design could be accomplished that would not provide spill over light into the residential area. Mr.Dest felt the architect's prices for Cottone Field were high and needed to be reviewed and looked at to determine their future budget. Mr. Brickley had spoken with contractors around the state who had built similar fields and concurred with Mr. Dest and thought the costs were high. He agreed that they need to look at what needs to be done and move forward to see if it is possible to have it done for the 2004 season. Questions were asked regarding the ability of the material to meet the ASTM guidelines for field surfaces. Mr. Dest explained that these types of specifications would be part of the writing of the bid specifications so that the town got the actual conditions and specifications they wanted for their field in a written document in the bid specifications. A discussion was held on the feasibility of moving the football field inside the track. Ms. Bagley distributed a letter from the architect, Mr. Webb, regarding the dimensions of the soccer field within the track. Committee members reviewed this letter and continued their discussion regarding the feasibility of putting the football field inside the track. Mr. Rodd felt the location of the football stadium inside the track would be a good way for the town to get two facilities renovated - both the track field and Cottone Field. Committee members felt they would like to look long term and do all the fields, but that they needed to consider funding and resident's availability to pay for all these projects.
Committee members discussed the use of the bond money for Cottone Field and looked at ways they could leverage that money to help with the process. Mr. Rodd thought a good idea would be to use the $250,000 to improve Cottone for soccer and go out to referendum for a bond to move the football stadium inside the track. Mr. Brickley thought the cost to do Cottone Field might be somewhere around $750,000 and using the state bond money you could improve Cottone Field for football/soccer with the artificial surface. More discussion ensued concerning these two topics and committee members developed a list of questions for information for the next meeting. They asked Ms. Bagley to request the Town Manager provide information on the following questions:
The committee set the next meeting for Tuesday, March 9, 2004, at the Wethersfield High School teacher's lounge at 7:30 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.