BRUNSWICK — For Brunswick track athlete Will Shaughnessy, there’s nothing quite like a home meet. With family, friends, teachers and the rest of the community cheering, there’s something “almost electric” in the air, he told the town council on Tuesday.
But Shaughnessy and the rest of his teammates haven’t been able to experience that feeling in more than two years years. The Brunswick track track, built in 1994 and resurfaced around 10 years ago, has frost heaves splitting the pavement and weeds growing all throughout the lanes. It’s in such bad shape, the track squad hasn’t been able to use it in years “It is tremendously torn up,” Jeff Ramich, athletic director said in an earlier interview. “You can go out and rub the top part of the track and it basically disintegrates.”
After overwhelming student and community support at Tuesday night’s town council meeting, councilors unanimously approved funding for a new, $1 million track and field facility. The project is expected to go out to bid this summer.
Students stand for a round of applause at Tuesday night’s town council meeting. More than a dozen students turned out to show their support for a new $1 million track facility to replace the current track which is falling apart. (Hannah LaClaire / The Times Record)
Support was almost unanimous during Tuesday’s public hearing, but a few people expressed concern over the price tag, especially so close to budget season. One attendee likened it to “impulse shopping.”
To the many student athletes who turned out for the meeting though, the price is worth it. “A million dollars is a million dollars,” Shaughnessy said, “but the positive effect on the community is priceless.”
The ordinance appropriates $250,000 from the town’s unassigned general fund balance (essentially town surplus) and allows for contributions from grants and groups like RunBrunswick, a nonprofit citizen organization which has so far raised about $100,000 in donations and pledges.
The balance of the project comes in the form of a capital advance that will be repaid through the school department budget, according to town meeting documents. Those payments will be timed to begin following the repayment of the 2016 advance to the school department for the $454,000 Junior High School Air Quality project, designed to bring the junior high up to national air quality standards. Essentially, the payment schedule would be extended at nearly the same amount (about $92,000 instead of $90,000) for seven to 10 years, depending on the other funding sources available and would therefore not increase taxes.
Barry Logan, president of RunBrunswick, said he thought having the town’s approval would open up new opportunities for fundraising in the community. “We are not done,” he said, noting an additional $2,500 that came in that day.
The track could also be an economic boon for Brunswick, with people coming in for track meets and staying for dinner, possibly even getting parking tickets, councilor Kathy Wilson joked.
Joe O’Neil, who co-owns Portland Pie downtown as well as Bolos Kitchen, Cantina and Candlepin, spoke in support of the track not just as a business owner, but as a runner himself.
A STRIP OF GRASS grows through the deteriorating track at Brunswick High School.
“When I was young, I entered high school in cancer treatment,” he told the council. The only sports teams he could join were track and cross country because nobody got cut. As he got healthy, he also got fast and running ultimately paid for his education while teaching him about discipline. “Track and having a track fosters a community,” he said, adding that it hones in on “community, hard work and investment.”
Tyler Patterson, a sophomore, said that it wasn’t just his own track career he was concerned about, but young kids who may be in the parks and recreation program now. “It would be disappointing if any of the young kids were to experience failure in their attempts to learn,” because of inadequate facilities, he said.
Councilor James Mason, who supported the idea from the get-go, but not enthusiastically so, commended the more than a dozen students who spoke in support of the ordinance. “It has an effect,” he said. “I am pretty enthusiastic about it now.”
Councilor Jane Millett too thanked the students. She intended to be the lone holdout, she said, but was convinced to vote in favor after the passionate response. She encouraged the community to continue to raise their voices for other upcoming issues, like the fire station, the landfill and the sidewalks that need to be replaced.
Councilor David Watson had the students stand for a round of applause.
“This is what it’s all about, people,” he said.
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