School system Facilities Director Denise Gunn presented a drawing of football field and track renovation plans to the Board of Education Monday night. At right is school board member Russ Nelson.
Habersham County’s Board of Education voted Monday to submit a Letter of Intent to Hellas Construction, Inc., of Austin, Texas, authorizing a thorough renovation of Habersham Central’s football field and track. The total cost of the project is not to exceed $2.5 million.
The Board heard a full report from Facilities Director Denise Gunn, who had distributed a “Request for Bids” nationally. The Austin firm approved for the project has built football fields and tracks nationwide, including Harris County, Georgia – and one track at the University of Georgia.
The new football field will include several patented products of the construction company and will have a type of astro-turf installed with a drainage system that keeps the playing field dry and level, Gunn reported. There will be an 8-lane running track surrounding the field, which meets all criteria for track and field competitions. There will be a re-positioning of lighting in the stadium, to include 4 lighting poles with a total of 48 LED light fixtures. There will be infrastructure for improved communications, including electrical fixtures on both sides of the field and wireless communications capability.
A new scoreboard will be built, which also incudes wireless communication transmission. Superintendent Matthew Cooper said the scoreboard will include a picture screen which could live broadcast live students pictures, as they go through graduation ceremonies on the field.
School system Finance Director Staci Newsome said the school system now has “a reserve account of $5,687,000,”and there will be a public posting that the amount would be used to fund the improvement project. That posting will be available through Dec. 14, she said, when the school board “must vote to approve this as a funding source.”
All local plans for the renovation project were completed by a committee including Athletic Director Geep Cunningham. Other members of the committee include Denis Gunn, system Facilities Director; Staci Newsome, system Finance Director; Russ Nelson, Board of Education member; Benji Harrison, Head Football Coach; Ric Wallace, Head Boys Soccer Coach; Sam Ivester, Head Track Coach; Ryan Dukes, Band Director; Kurt Cooper, Habersham County Recreation Department; Rich Wilbanks, community leader; David Foster, community leader; Chan Caudell, community leader; Dwayne Tedder, Civil Engineer; and Dee Higgins, Civil Engineer.
Facilities Director Gunn said the renovation is “a 60-day project” which is authorized to begin today, Nov. 17.
