New home turf?

They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but when it’s made of synthetic fibers it’s whatever color you want it to be.

Students at Dalton High School could see this firsthand in February 2013 when the grass practice field at the school is replaced with artificial turf. Harmon Field, which is owned by the city of Dalton, will remain a grass field.

The Dalton Board of Education voted 3-0 Tuesday to give Superintendent Jim Hawkins the power to oversee company proposals for the new field, as well as a new track and other improvements.

“We made budget amendments early this year to ready ourselves for this project,” said Hawkins. “Because of timing, (I’ll) make the decisions until we get to a point that we need to vote.”

Requests for proposals were sent on Aug. 17 detailing the project as “replacement of existing natural turf football field with new artificial turf field... installing new football goals as well as the construction of long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault facilities.” The request also includes repairs to the running track around the field including “installation of (a) new synthetic running surface.”

Four companies — AstroTurf, Field Turf, Hellas and Shaw Industries Sports Turf — submitted bids.

Dalton-based Shaw Industries Sports Turf proposed “base line field costs” of $449,217 and “top of the line field costs” of $612,752. Sports Turf has an 8 percent construction management fee for overseeing the project.

Sports Turf was the low bidder for the “base line field costs,” while Dalton-based AstroTurf was the second lowest bidder at $475,910 and a 6 percent management fee. However, AstroTurf has several thousand dollars of added costs.

AstroTurf was the low bidder for the “top of the line field costs” at $482,350, but it was unclear if there were any added costs.

A committee chose Sports Turf as the top candidate on Sept. 28, school officials said. The committee included Hawkins, Director of Operations Brandon Harrison, Chief Financial Officer Theresa Perry, Dalton High School Athletics Director Ron Ward and Architect Gregory Smith, who was brought on for his “technical expertise.”

“We asked the companies about financial stability, litigation, debt-equity ratios, location, pricing, material and distinguishing factors,” said Hawkins. “We want a qualified, reputable company.”

The proposal is formatted as a Construction Manager At-Risk (CM At-Risk) to allow Sports Turf to act as a consultant in the development process and general contractor during construction.

Board member Mark Orr said he is “not in favor of this process.”

“My personal preference was to negotiate with the local people instead of using a CM At-Risk,” Orr said. “I even questioned the need for an architect, but we’ve gone down this road. Given that we need three votes to move forward, I’ll vote for (approving Hawkins’ oversight). I’m not for or against Shaw, for or against the other guy, I just don’t like this process.”

Hawkins said working with Shaw as a Construction Manager At-Risk offers the board advantages that a “competitive low-bid-take-all negotiation” would not.

“I do not want the board to act as the general contractor,” said Hawkins. “No single local business can do all of the (renovations). I want to go with one company to do it all because I want to avoid finger pointing if something were to go wrong. We will get an umbrella that’s accountable for the entire project.”

Shaw will oversee a sub-contract for the track because Shaw does not specialize in that area, said Hawkins. School officials did not have an estimate for the overall project cost.

“Shaw’s running track bids have not gone out yet and the project will not go to vote until then,” said Hawkins. “Once we award the contract it is done, but the trigger has not been pulled yet.”

When it is, School Board Chairman Danny Crutchfield will not be part of the decision. Crutchfield said he has distanced himself from the discussion since he is the director of corporate training and organizational development for Shaw Industries.

If the project is finalized, the new field will be paid with money from the system’s general fund, said school officials.

“We will seek the best deal competitively,” board member Steve Williams said. “And if that does not work out (with Shaw), then the team will then move to the second proposal.”

The discussion on a new field started early this year, said Hawkins, who said it “bubbled up” from conversations about the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for education (ESPLOST).

“We did a needs assessment on facilities a couple of years ago,” said Hawkins. “After ESPLOST we had some unmet needs so we amended our budget. We did not want to do this project if we had to cut in other areas.”

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

New home turf?

Superintendent working with Shaw on DHS field

Site Map

Contact Us