Town officials this month approved about $75,000 in contracts for fall renovations on New Canaan’s baseball and softball fields.
The Parks Department maintains 11 fields that range from T-ball to adult leagues and “our main priority is to ensure safe and playable field conditions,” Assistant Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Oct. 18 at Town Hall and via videoconference.
The selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of a $50,523 contract with Bridgeport-based Athletic Field Services and a $26,004 contract with Grove City, Penn.-based DuraEdge Products.
Athletic Field Services “has done work on our ball fields for many years and they were able to keep their pricing in line with last year’s renovations,” Restivo said. Parks selected DuraEdge’s “Recreation Premium Infield Mix” product “because it contains 75% sand which is actually very beneficial for drainage, helps us maintain the ball fields and provides exceptional player safety,” he said.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contracts.
Funds for the materials and work are included in the Parks budget, Restivo said.
The selectmen asked whether the infield mix is new or something that New Canaan has used in the past (used in the past), whether the pricing has changed (the shipping costs more) and what approvals the Parks & Recreation Commission granted recently to the New Canaan Baseball nonprofit organization (approved the concept of privately funded projects, such as dugouts that need work).
Moynihan took aim at a Hearst Connecticut legacy media outlet while introducing the agenda item, saying, “It’s amazing that the Stamford Advocate today, above the fold, has an article about our baseball dugouts. Like in an election season they could focus on something that’s insignificant in some ways as our baseball dugouts but anyway that is priorities of local media. Not insignificant for our New Canaan residents but I’m not sure why Stamford and other people would care about our baseball dugouts.”