BATH

“Can I scream?” Linda Levesque exclaimed after the City Council voted Wednesday night to proceed with a plan to install field turf at McMann Field. “Can I throw my hat up?”

The Morse High School girls’ lacrosse coach summed up the feelings of many who worked long and hard for the past three years to raise funds needed to install artificial turf at city-owned McMann Field.

Organizers are excited that, by mid-August, a state-of-theart turf surface will replace the grass that gets torn up when used during the rainy autumn and spring months.

Steve Balboni, director of the Bath Department of Parks and Recreation, and Fields For Our Future cochairpersons Lu Lozano and Kay Beveridge briefed the City Council on construction plans prior to Wednesday’s 7-1 vote.

Ward 6 Councilor David Sinclair, concerned all along that the city could be stuck with replacement costs once the turf wears out, was the dissenting vote.

The order authorizes City Manager Bill Giroux to execute contracts on the project.

Lozano said Harry C. Crooker of Topsham, which has made significant in-kind donations, will be the general contractor. Northeast Turf of South Portland will supply the new surface, which should be ready for practices by mid-August, he said.

Balboni and the city engineer have met with Crooker regarding installation plans, Lozano said.

“We have the money in place when he needs it,” Lozano said.

Sinclair mentioned Fields For Our Future had planned to raise $35,000 annually for replacement costs.

The field turf is expected to last for at least a decade.

Lozano said income from advertisements and field rentals will bring money in for maintenance once the turf is installed.

“As the traffic on the facility increases,” Lozano said, “the value of that advertising increases.”

Lozano said the project should take seven weeks to complete.

Now, it’s all sinking in. The Morse Shipbuilders have played their last football game and their last soccer matches on that grass surface. Once the lacrosse teams finish their seasons this spring, and as soon as graduation ceremonies end June 9, work will begin.

Fields For Our Future raised $544,000 of the $562,376 needed to complete the project, and pledges are still coming in, according to its members.

Prior to the council vote, Fields For Our Future member Kate Bussey said she was surprised the process had taken this long.

Bussey has coached youth sports teams, some of which have had to practice on narrow strips of land and on the old basketball court in the Morse basement. The new McMann Field surface will be able to accommodate more activity, including practices.

“Thre’s no luxury here,” said Bussey, whose husband, Jay Paulus, coaches Morse boys’ lacrosse. “This is needed in the community.”

Beveridge informed the council that fundraising continues, and that a significant sum can be expected from a May 11 road race.

She said several interested parties have called her recently, including the town of Phippsburg, the Morse High School class of 1963 and some individuals.

“The community is ready for this,” Beveridge said. “I think we’ve got a lot of momentum.”

lgrard@timesrecord.com

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