Present: Larry Pilchman, Geoffrey Vitt, John Chamberlin,
Kathy.Parsonnet, Buff Mclaughry, Cam Brown, Barry Harwick,
Peter Krass, Paul Campagna, John Aubin, Bob White, Wayne
Gersen, Jonathon Brush, Hilary Pridgen, Mary Danko, Ed Childs,
Mike Jackson, Hank Tenney
Minutes of last meeting: Not Yet Approved
The following discussion took place.
Update on Fields Sharing
Dresden Athletics and the town of Hanover reached a preliminary
agreement on sharing the field at RMS and Thompson Terrace
until Summer 2009. Conditions for sharing Thompson
after 2009 still needs to be clarified. The use of
Fullington remains unknown and will so until July most likely,
according to Mike Jackson.
Fields Required by HHS Athletic Program
Discussion turned to the committee’s need to reach
a consensus on the number of fields the HHS athletic program
needs now and in the future. So far, Peter Krass stated,
the assumption ahs been that the committee needs to account
for building 3 new general use fields and 1 baseball diamond
with overlapping field hockey field in the outfield. This
latter field and 1 general use field is hopefully being constructed
using the Merriman fund.
One issue the committee must contend with is whether or
not to provide opportunity for future expansion of the athletic
program. Kari Asmus of the Dresden school board quoted
from district documents, stating that a new program cannot
be approved unless there is space for their practices and
games. Other conditions also apply. Barry Harwick
felt that the committee should seriously address the future
expansion issue now because the public is not going to want
to hear that in five years we need to build more fields. Geoffrey
Vitt agreed that we should leave some flexibility for future
expansion.
While Bob White expressed a need for a long term vision,
while Hilary Pridgen feels we should meet current needs only.
To help confirm how many fields the athletic program requires,
Mike Jackson is going to layout sample schedules for Spring
and Fall.
Cost Estimates
John Aubin presented preliminary cost estimates for the
different options under consideration. Costs for options
2 and 3 fell in the $2.5 to $2.7 million range. Some
concerns was expressed that it may appear that the committee
was simply trying to fit within the price range Bob Sokol
suggested based on his analysis of the questionnaire – even
though these costs were created form the ground up. It
will be important to inform the public how the costs were
estimated.
It was pointed out that they do not include bleachers and
other big ticket items. More work to refine the cost
estimates would be done.
Varsity soccer coach Chris Cheney stated that the committee
and public needs to consider the cost to the kids in terms
of lost school time, which results from having to leave school
early for home games that need to be completed before darkness
and bus time. A synthetic turf field with lights would
benefit the student-athletes because it would alleviate such
issues.
Communication with Public
Kathy Parsonnet and Peter Krass reported that the outreach
program continues and a public forum is set for June 7, 7
PM, at the HHS library.
