A community group working to improve athletic facilities in Oconto Falls asked the School Board this week to place a $1.2 million sports complex on a proposed August referendum.
The possibility of a referendum was first discussed in April, when financial projections showed a $1.16 million shortfall over the next two years, not counting a district wish list for upgrades to parking lots, roofs and the entrance at Abrams Elementary.
Representatives of Panther Pride on Monday presented their design for a football stadium and nine-lane track, which, if approved, would be built east of the district office.
Athletic Director Jerry Moynihan said the condition of the track at Memorial Field is a concern because of cracks and dips where puddles form.
“We have teams who flat out say they refuse to come to our facility,” he said.
In addition, according to preliminary road construction plans, the 2015 state Highway 22 construction project will cut into the discus and pole vault areas at Memorial Field, he said.
Expanded seating for football games is also needed, he told the board. Panther football games averaged 733 fans over the past three seasons, and the current stadium has seating for 500.
The school district has a five-year contract, ending in 2015, to lease Memorial Field from the city for baseball, softball, football and track.
Previous referendums for athletic facility upgrades for the district have failed, which led to the grassroots start-up of Panther Pride. The organization helped to develop a two-diamond softball facility, which opened this spring, at Oconto Falls High School.
Panther Pride members said while softball and baseball complexes were achievable, a million-dollar football stadium with track is out of their reach.
“I would look very favorably as adding this as one of our priority projects,” said School Board member Ken Harter, after reviewing a plan designed by William Eisch, of Panther Pride.
According to Eisch, with community help, the project can be done at a fraction of the cost that had been proposed in the failed referendums.
“It’s not too expensive, yet you’re getting a really nice looking, nice, functional plan and facility this way,” he said.
Harter said passage of a referendum will require strong community buy-in, and Panther Pride might prove to be a key partner in promoting the plan.
“I would hope in return for adding this in, we have a group that’s going to be very pro-referendum for all the needs that we have,” he said.
Those needs include roofing repairs, estimated at close to $150,000, with the biggest projects at Washington Middle School and the high school. Parking lot repairs were estimated at about $300,000.
No quotes were available for a revamped entrance at Abrams Elementary. School Board members discussed tearing down a former Methodist church south of the school, which is owned by the district, to make room for parking and a new entryway.
Other expenses proposed by the district for 2014-15 are $210,000 for new language arts textbooks for kindergarten to grade 12, $395,000 for technology upgrades and $57,000 for a telephone system. Personnel costs are expected to increase $343,300, factoring in a 1.46 percent increase in salaries and fringe benefits, and slight increases for health and dental insurance and long-term care.
The School Board must decide by June 3 if it wants to place a referendum question on the Aug. 12 ballot. The board meets again at 7 p.m. Monday at the district office.
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