Board OKs another $15K to fix field Change order brings cost of field to $768K BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - The saga surrounding the athletic field at Middletown High School North continued on Friday Nov. 2 as the freshman football team played on the field that had been closed for repairs the previous week. At the Board of Education meeting, a change order was approved to add $15,710 to the $753,000 already allocated for reconstruction of the field. The controversy over the field began when Mondo U.S.A., a Pennsylvaniabased company that had never installed a field in New Jersey, was awarded the contract to construct the field at High School North. Public opinion appeared to be in favor of awarding the job to I.C. Improvements, a company based in Parsippany that worked on the field at High School South. Now the complaint is that the field was put together improperly and that the money that was put toward the field, $753,000 awarded to the lowest bidder, was wasted. "The field is a complete mess," Middletown resident and High School North parent James Cody said. Cody is the sales consultant for I.C. Improvements. "They shouldn't have been playing on the field before the repairs. They fixed some things but it's still not good enough," Cody said. The original list of problems with the field was that the field lines were uneven; there were divots in the Astroturf and lumps that athletes were complaining about. Parents spoke out about the field at a Board of Education meeting on Oct. 22, days after the High School North football team played on the field that had just flooded after a rain shower, according to several of the parents who attended the meeting. "The field was almost floating," Cody said. "It's just not safe." Middletown School District Business Administrator William Doering assured those in the crowd that the district is looking into the matter and has a number of repairs that have been placed on a "punch list" that will go to Mondo U.S.A. "We are aware of some of the problems at High School North," Doering said to those in attendance. "We have notified Mondo of what we want done." The $15,710 change order approved was for: the installation of a filter fabric under the bleachers; removing the long jump pit; fixing the pole vault pit with new mats and covers; adding a rubber curb around the perimeter. All but one of the members on the Board of Education voted for the change order, with the lone "no" vote coming from Joan Minnuies. "That field needs to be fixed," Minnuies said at the meeting. "It needs to be what we approved in the first place." A game was scheduled to be played on the field Oct. 26 but another rainstorm cancelled the event. Soon after, the field was closed for repairs. Some of the repairs made included: stretching the carpet on the field to straighten out the lines as well as cutting up parts of the turf and patching it in attempt to eliminate the dips and lumps that athletes have been complaining about. Although the lines are still not completely straight and there are still some lumps on the field, it was deemed playable for the freshman game. At the meeting, Doering was asked if the district would be held accountable if an injury occurred due to the field condition. "There is no reason to worry," Doering said. "All athletes are on the school's insurance which would deal with such issues if needed." The field was deemed fit to be played on earlier in the week before the Friday game. Cody, who attended the game, still doesn't think the field is acceptable. "It's just one big horrible mess," Cody said. "It's embarrassing."