PPISD allocates $1 million to stadium

When the Pilot Point Bearcats return to the field at Massey Stadium next fall, they have will have a new field to play on.

The stadium will have a refurbished track, too.

The Pilot Point School Board approved a contract from Sports Field Solutions of Fort Worth for a new synthetic field and a resurfacing of the track Wednesday night.

The base bid came in at $912,999. Two alternates were added: providing possible chemical injections to stabilize the field over the entire playing area at 8-foot depths, $87,000; and an area, called a D-Area, that will include rubberized surface area behind both end zones, $56,760.

The measure passed 6-0; board member Jackie Jenkins was absent.

The district received bids from SFS and Hellas Construction Inc. of Austin.

PPISD contracted with Sports Field Solutions, or SFS, for the high school softball field that was added last year.

Money for the track and field will come from the district’s assigned fund balance, PPISD Superintendent Dan R. Gist said.

“You know, I’m excited,” Pilot Point head football coach Danny David said, seconds after thanking Gist during a break in the board meeting. “It’s great for the kids.”

The decision to acquire a new synthetic field occurred after Massey Stadium was not available for the Bearcats’ last home football game against Bowie in November.

Rain water that pelted the area drenched the grass field and prevented the team from playing the game at Massey; the game had to be moved to Ponder. Massey Stadium was the site of a mud bath football game between Pottsboro and Pilot Point in 2015.

Gist told the Post-Signal in November that he wanted to receive direction from the board about replacing the field surface at the stadium. Massey Stadium improvements, including a new field, were on bond issues in 2016 and 2017. The bonds were rejected by voters.

A new track and field installation, weather permitting, takes 90 to 120 days to complete. The district would hold track meets in other places in the spring while the track is being resurfaced, Gist said.

Also Wednesday, the board heard a report on a band hall addition to be done at the high school.

Gist told the board the district is in the beginning stages now of doing necessary work for the addition and he hopes to have plans to bring to the board in February and March for its review. The district will do a request for qualifications, Gist said.

Gist said he thought, from preliminary estimates, that the cost would run between $450,000-$500,000 for the addition, which will include three more practice rooms, storage and a percussion room. The square footage for the addition would be around 2,000, give or take.

“If somebody questions us for doing the band hall, [they should] go in there,” Gist told the board. “In every nook and cranny, in their practice rooms, they’ve got shelves, they’ve got stuff stored. They are just run over at this point in their band hall. They need that addition.”