Construction bid awarded for new Clark Field scoreboard
Date: 10/18/2011
Oct. 19, 2011By Debbie Gardner
Assistant Editor
WEST SPRINGFIELD — A new scoreboard for West Springfield High School’s Clark Field came one step closer to reality on Oct. 11 when School Committee members voted 5-0 to accept the $37,500 construction bid for the project submitted by Hampden Engineering of East Longmeadow.
Hampden Engineering was one of two firms that bid on this project, which is being partially funded through a grant from PeoplesBank. The second firm, Scoreboard Enterprises of Marshfield, Mass., submitted a bid of $48,400 for construction of the new scoreboard.
Assistant West Springfield School Superintendent Kevin McQuillan told the committee that construction of the new scoreboard was delayed because of a glitch in the initial bidding, which necessitated a repeat of the process. He added that Hampden Engineering had been the lowest bidder in the initial round of bids for the proposed 26-foot-by-22-foot scoreboard.
“I want to note that even though we had to bid [this project] a second time, the outcome was the same,” Mayor Edward Gibson, who also chairs the School Committee, said.
The School Committee gave initial approval to the design of the new Clark Field scoreboard at its July 12 meeting, with construction anticipated to begin in early fall. That vote also awarded permanent naming rights to the new scoreboard to PeoplesBank. At the time, Douglas A. Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank told Reminder Publications his bank was “happy to donate $43,000 for the new high school football field scoreboard” as part of the celebration of the opening of its first branch in West Springfield.
McQuillan said construction of the new scoreboard is expected to take six weeks, which would coincide with the general contract bid openings for the new high school. At that time decisions would be made regarding Clark Field and, subsequently, whether or not to erect the scoreboard this fall or store it until field renovations were complete.
