SOUTH HADLEY — Construction of a new artificial-turf playing field at the high school could begin as early as next week following a unanimous vote by the Select Board on Tuesday to award a $765,350 contract to Mountain View Landscapes and Lawncare Inc. of Chicopee.
They were the lowest qualified bidder of eight companies seeking the job for which the town had set aside $900,000, according to Town Manager Michael Sullivan. The town had already approved $82,000 for Gale Associates, an engineering firm with offices in Weymouth, to design the field. That company will also oversee construction.
The new field, which will be ready by July, will be 200 feet wide and have the markings for five sports sewn into it in different colors. There will also be an orange tiger paw in the center, drawn from the athletic teams’ mascot and colors. A 4-foot high vinyl fence will surround the field.
The vote came after several residents spoke in opposition based on concerns that the surface, which includes rubber crumbs, could cause cancer. Joanna Brown said that new research has emerged in the last six months reinforcing concerns about the health risks. “I ask that you not approve the project and send it to the Board of Health” for further study, she said.
Others, including Andrew Rogers, the town’s recreation director, said they had sought guidance from state agencies, including the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and concluded that the field would be safe. He said that many area schools and colleges have these kinds of fields and that the dangers to the health of athletes posed by the current playing surface, which is uneven and hard, warrants putting in the artificial turf.
Andrew Rogers, the town’s recreation director, this year will manage the Ledges Golf Club, the municipal course in South Hadley. He recently hired James Falco, a member of the Professional Golfers Association, to promote the club and to run the pro shop.
The previous golf pro and manager of the Ledges, Douglas Juhasz, left in February. He had been put on administrative leave in January after it was discovered that cash deposits totally more than $6,000 were missing.
South Hadley Police and the Northwestern district attorney’s office are currently investigating the missing deposits, according to Town Manager Michael Sullivan.
Juhasz has said that he is not the target of that investigation and that he has been cooperating with authorities.
Falco most recently managed the Brookline Golf Club and was a coach at Newbury College in Brookline. “The Ledges is one of the best public golf courses in New England,” Falco told the Select Board. “I am very excited to be here and I am excited to be part of the town.”
Sullivan said that Rogers’ salary increased from $59,000 to $67,320 as compensation for taking over the general manager responsibilities for the course. Falco’s annual salary will be $55,250. Before he left, Juhasz was paid $67,171.
Rogers is looking for a food and beverage operator and interviewing staff for the summer season. The golf course is set to open Wednesday with the restaurant resuming at the beginning of May.
The Select Board voted unanimously during a meeting at the senior center to adopt a resolution calling for South Hadley to be a “dementia-friendly community.”
Select Board Chairman Francis DeToma said the proclamation states that the community will promote public awareness of the struggles people with dementia face, and calls for them to be “treated with respect and dignity.”
That is part of a broader strategy to become part of a national network of age-friendly communities, he said. That effort, organized by the American Association of Retired People, has a stated goal of encouraging older people to “take an active role and have their voices heard” in their communities.
DeToma said that in directing attention to dementia “the issue is how to make the care-givers and public servants, public utilities, police, fire and so forth more aware of how best to handle situations when they arise.”
In the long term, DeToma said, “We want to make ours a community that is friendly to all ages because that’s when you have a community that is most vibrant, when you have people of all ages interacting with each other.”
Carol Constant, the director of community engagement at Loomis Village, a retirement community in South Hadley, brought the idea of a dementia-friendly community to town officials last year.
She is helping to organize an in-service training on recognizing and responding to the challenges of people dealing with dementia for employees in Town Hall who interact with the public. It will be held in Town Hall at noon April 15 and is open to the public.
Further information on the local coalition organizing around this topic is available online at www.dementiafriendlycommunities.org.
The Select Board has named Jon Camp to a vacancy on the town’s Agriculture Commission and Grace Kelly to a vacancy on the Council on Aging.
The next South Hadley Lions Club spaghetti supper will be from 4:30 to 6 pm April 4 at the Roost on Main Street. It will benefit the Friends of the Gaylord Library.
The meal costs $6 and consists of spaghetti, meatballs, salad, rolls, beverage and dessert. Parking is available across the street.
Eric Goldscheider can be reached at eric.goldscheider@gmail.com.