Gilmer denies park lease
News September 10, 2022
ELLIJAY, Ga. – With fall sports in full swing, the county’s River Park is increasing activity this season and one business has turned to county property at the park while looking for a lease. A lease that the county firmly denied in its September Meeting.
However, the denial came with clarification in the meeting for the county. Concerns focused on for profit business leasing county property for it, a similar situation as to the county’s rivers as tubing companies use the Mulkey Road takeout. This situation was brought up in the meeting as discussion on businesses using county property was the main focus.
The business, this time, focuses on practicing, training, and lessons for baseball and for students in travel teams. While this doesn’t seem a major deal now, Parks and Recreation Director Kevan White said that the issue could come in main baseball season as many teams will be wanting to use any available fields. White called it “opening Pandora’s box” as he said major issues could come from a lease and conflicting schedules.
On top of scheduling, the county debated what to do about a for-profit business utilizing county facilities. With comparisons to private lessons in other sports and rentals of other facilities, the county ultimately set aside the concept as the board said renting would be the same for any renters regardless of usage, so long as they didn’t damage facilities. White also noted that other counties rent fields to travel teams.
Chairman Charlie Paris noted though that renting fields is different than leasing as leasing the facilities removes much of the control from the county.
Ultimately, the board agreed with this and opted to officially voted to deny the lease, but also strongly encouraged anyone wishing to use the fields in this manner to pursue rental and the county would follow through that way. In efforts to maintain county management for the time and fields usage, they said that White could even go into regularly scheduled rentals as he sees fit.
Gilmer Schools replaces turf on Pettit Field
Featured Stories, News August 23, 2022
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Originally discussed last year with the end zones appearing to fade and returning to the topic in February 2022, the BOE has been looking to replace the turf on the football field.
Not completely satisfied with the original turf, but also being in the later years of the field’s 10-year lifespan, the BOE began looking at possibly a discounted replacement option. Receiving bids from Shaw SportsTurf, AstroTurf, and FieldTurf, the school system has AstroTurf as the low bidder. Returning later, they held a meeting on the football field in June where they discussed options including further discounting the price of replacement due to considerations on the field and work from AstroTurf on patching the current field. AstroTurf manufactured the field that is currently in use, but SportsTurf originally installed the field in 2016.
With agreements made for a lower price, coming down from AstroTurf’s original bid at $385,000 to the new price of $320,000.
The board will not be replacing the pad under the turf, but will be replacing the field and fill sitting atop it. According to Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley, considering the 10-year life span of the actual turf carpet, and calculating the average cost of replacing that layer ranging between $460,000 to $500,000, he stated that breakdown would come to $45,000 to $50,000 per year. Ridley went on to state that at the end of the 2022 season, GHS will have had seven full seasons played on their field, three years early of the scheduled replacement.
Dr. Ridley stated, “The AstroTurf proposal is roughly $140,000 to $165,000 off the normal price of replacement. And divided across those three years, that brings the excess cost of early replacement to zero.”
As the Board of Education officially approved the AstroTurf proposal, the replacement is scheduled to take place on between December 15 and December 31, 2022. Ridley noted that the shorted timeframe comes as the won’t be replacing or working on the pad or under the field, instead they will be cutting up the turf carpet at the seams, rolling it up and laying down the new turf.
Boardmember Joe Pflueger took the opportunity to ask the Superintendent if he was absolutely sure if this was the right product. To which, Dr. Ridley assured the board that, through his own research and through discussions with other schools and their superintendents, AstroTurf is the right product. He also addressed that they are offering considerations as the board wasn’t completely happy with the previous product. Ridley stated, “They’re treating us right.”