The newly elected Board of Selectmen during its first meeting Tuesday approved two contracts totaling approximately $70,000 for maintenance work on New Canaan’s baseball and softball fields.
The town owns 11 ball fields and eight of them have clay infields, according to Assistant Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo.
The “recreational premium infield mix from Grove City, Pa.-based Dura Edge Products “has benefited our maintenance program and is the most important aspect of New Canaan’s renowned clay fields,” Restivo told the Board during its regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of a $24,086 contract with Dura Edge and $45,579 contract with Bridgeport-based Athletic Field Services.
The funds are available in the Parks Department capital infrastructure budget, Restivo said.
The selectmen asked why the project needs a contingency (unexpected costs for AFS and because the delivery tonnage from Dura Edge may not be exact), whether the department could “true up” contingency totals each quarter to see whether they’re used (yes) and whether coaches are allowed to perform field maintenance (no).
Carlson how many companies were approached for a bid on the project. Restivo said four (for the clay itself).
Parks & Rec Director John Howe said that Dura Edge makes a specific type of clay.
“We need the same clay,” he said. “We don’t want to mix them.”
Carlson said that’s the type of detail about a project like this that she would like to understand.
“Obviously, a priority of mine is to make sure that we are competitively bidding all contracts, especially at this price point,” she said. “So if we can discuss which ones we can’t because of mixing and things like that—I’d just like to get a better understanding.”