Vernon Township High School’s Macerino Stadium
Vernon. The Vernon Township School District board of Education unanimously approved spending more than $700,000 to replace the football field and track over the summer.
School board member Brad Sparta was absent.
The Board of Education awarded the project to FieldTurf in the amount of $700,517, and the project will be done over the summer.
In October, the Board of Education moved $500,000 into the district’s capital reserve fund to cover the cost of replacing the field, estimated then at about $444,000. The current proposal from FieldTurf, the company that installed the current field 13 years ago, also includes replacing the track.
“I know we have a number of options for where we draw these funds from because of the and the money pulled form capital reserve,” Board of Education President Justin Annunziata said. “I want to make sure we have that conversation as a full board so we can re-evaluate the best way different funds can be utilized to make sure we make the best decision.”
The track and field were both about 13 years old, Athletic Director Bill Foley said at the Dec. 10 workshop meeting.
He said there is tearing on some of the external areas of the track and there are other areas where the drainage isn’t working well, especially the two corners on the home-bleacher side.
Foley said the district had received three different proposals for the turf and the track. He said FieldTurf was the best price the district received. FieldTurf didn’t put in the current track.