GREENVILLE — During Public Participation at a Greenville City School District Board of Education Meeting, May 18, Greenville High School Head Football Coach Aaron Shaffer requested that the board approve the synthetic turf portion of the Athletic Facility improvement project.
“Turf will help eliminate cancellations and schedule changes and will reduce the risk of injuries due to the conditions of the playing surface,” he said. “In addition, as a member of the (Greater Western Ohio Conference) GWOC we are partners with 19 other school districts in a premiere athletic and academic conference. By the end of the summer, 17 of the GWOK schools will have turf installed. We will be the eighteenth. I personally take pride in my Alma mater. Greenville is a special place.”
The board did one better in approving a resolution authorizing a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) Amendment to a Design-Build Agreement with Greater Dayton Construction, Ltd., d.b.a. Oberer Thompson Company for the Track and Field Design Project (Phases I and II) in the amount of about $2.7 M. In addition to the synthetic turf ($613,300 Levan’s Excavating), the contract includes a long list of improvements, such as: a pole vault pit, a wood shot put border, athletic equipment, grandstands, bleachers, a prefabricated press box, plumbing, Musco Sports lights, earthwork, asphalt paving, track surfacing, storm sewer and lawn maintenance.
According to District Treasurer Carla Surber, the GMP is $2.7 M with some outside costs, bringing the total to about
$2.9 M for the entire project. The Friends of Harmon Field have been working on the project for about two-and-one-half years.
“I never had a concern that this was going to go through,” Surber said.”Everybody worked very closely together to make sure that it worked well. I think it is going to be a wonderful project. The firm that is doing this, is doing a phenomenal job and on top of things.”
Some of the board members gave thanks to The Friends of Harmon Field, including David Ernst.
“I’d like to just say thanks to The Friends of Harmon Field, the entire community, the entire board and administration,” he said. “When you say you’re going to build a track and put some bleachers up and turf down, that seems simple. But, when you start to figure out there are certain kinds of bleachers, six different types of track, what color, what length and on and on – that is something you don’t think about. If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right. You can rest assured, this is a state-of-the-art top-notch project. That has always been the goal for here and Harmon Field, to put something out there that is going to be safe, good for the kids and the community and something to be proud of. By Aug. 11, you will have field turf in the stadium and by October you will have a completed track. Thanks to everyone involved.”
