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School district attempts to set parameters for field rental

Date: 3/19/2012

March 19, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — Contrary to popular belief, the East Longmeadow School District is not actively seeking to rent the recently updated athletic facility at the high school.

Athletic Director Frank Paige told Reminder Publications that the conversation he had with the School Committee on Feb. 27 regarding the rental of the field was a discussion about policy and did not signal any immediate plans to begin renting out the facility.

"All we're trying to do at this point is establish rental rates," he said. "We rent out all of our facilities, whether they be practice fields, gyms or the pool [at the high school] and we have rates for all of them. We don't have any rates for the stadium because we've never rented it out before."

Paige told the School Committee at the meeting that several teams and organizations have called with interest in the complex. However, those inquires have not resulted in any substantial conversations.

"I get calls all the time from organizations asking us about our policies and I have to tell them that I'm not sure yet," he said.

Paige said his focus and the district's is to maintain the best possible schedule for the high school teams and the Parks and Recreation Department teams that utilize the facility.

"Our varsity programs, then the Rec. Department come first," he said. "If there is a case where there is interest and the field isn't in use, we'd look at the possibility of renting it, but during football and soccer season and during the spring lacrosse season, it's not going to happen."

Paige did say that summer camps were a possibility, but only if a policy on rates is established by then.

"I hope we can have something in place by the end of the school year because that is one of those times when the field isn't being used by the high school and there is some flexibility there," he said.

One of the concerns in allowing outside organizations to utilize the renovated facility is maintenance costs and any funding gained from the rental would be used for that purpose, Paige said.

"It definitely increases maintenance costs. There's a lot we have to flesh out, but any money will go to maintaining the field. We're not looking to create a new revenue stream or make money off of this," he said.

Paige also added that while the Parks and Recreation Department would not rent the field, conversations would be had regarding the costs of maintaining and supervising the facility during the times non-high school teams utilize it.

"I'm meeting with the Rec. Department to talk to them about this because we would like to have someone there to supervise," he said. "During high school games, a custodian is there to make sure the rules of the stadium are followed. We would want to have someone other than parents there working in a similar fashion when [the Parks and Recreation Department] uses the field. We don't want to charge them, but there has to be a discussion on where money for that expense is going to come from."

***


The School Committee also voted at its March 12 meeting to award a contract for the retrofitting of new lighting fixtures for the athletic complex to Collins Electric of Chicopee.

Collins Electric, Western Massachusetts' largest employer of electrical tradespeople according to its website, won the project with a bid of $104,800.

Residents approved an appropriation of $115,000 for the lighting upgrade at a Feb. 1 Special Town Meeting.



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