School Committee to vote on field lighting contract

Date: 3/13/2012

March 12, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — The next step in getting new lights for the East Longmeadow High School athletic complex could be completed this week.

The School Committee will vote to award the contract to complete the retrofitting of an upgraded lighting system at its meeting scheduled for March 12 at 7 p.m.

"The project met the threshold to be put out to bid, so we followed that procedure," School Committee Chair Gregory Thompson told Reminder Publications. "We received bids from four electrical contractors and hope to award the bid [at the meeting]."

Theresa Olejarz, assistant superintendent for business, said all of the bids came in under the $115,000 limit approved at the Feb. 1 Special Town Meeting that brought nearly 400 voting residents to the East Longmeadow High School auditorium.

"The bids came in lower than the appropriation we were given by the town, so this should be done with no problems," she said.

High school athletic teams were unable to play under the lights after a consultant from Masco Lighting told the school district that its lighting system failed to meet industry standards in terms of footcandles on the field.

While the industry standard for high school sports facilities is approximately 35 footcandles, a 72-point light test showed the lighting on East Longmeadow's field averaged just 23.5 footcandles.

The town voted down a Proposition 2 1/2 override for the athletic field overhaul that included the lighting, as well as eight other items at a June 28, 2011 Special Town Election.

Wishing to push the project forward, the School Committee used surplus funds that would have otherwise been returned to the town to fund the lined playing surface, the track, complete with a Plexitrac surface, new track and field equipment and the new fence while the boosters donated the cash to have the Spartans' logo painted on the field.

While the lighting was not funded, the light towers had to be moved back in order to make the improvements, creating the issue of lack of adequate light.

As the School Committee explored multiple options for financing the new lighting, member Joseph Cabrera collected 500 signatures and filed a petition as a private citizen for the Special Town Meeting with a warrant article requesting an appropriation of $115,000 from free cash to fund the upgrade.