Parkway considering deal with village's ball diamonds

ROCKFORD - School board members on Wednesday designated a committee to create a lease agreement between the school and the Rockford Recreation Association to rent out the baseball diamonds in Shanes Park.

Recreation association president Dan Moeller had asked the school to donate to its ongoing diamond project since it uses the facility.

The club has started a four-year plan to redress and recondition the baseball and softball diamonds.

"The school uses that diamond," Moeller said. "We don't charge them to use it. We're just asking them to help (finish) the other diamonds."

Board president Deb Call said the board can't legally make a donation but would instead rent or lease out the fields on a season basis.

There are four playable diamonds and one practice diamond. The project, which will cost $10,000, includes resurfacing the fields. One diamond is finished and the others need to be resurfaced, but they are still playable.

The older diamonds don't drain as well, an issue that often causes games to be canceled because rainwater will sit on the field.

In other business, superintendent Jeanne Osterfeld updated the board on the $2.81 million athletic building.

She said the cement floor has been poured, and board members can tour the facility at next month's meeting.

"The building is not pre-built but the steel is manufactured specifically for this project," Osterfeld had said.

H.A. Dorsten of Minster is the contractor. Crews have laid the foundation and erected the steel, Osterfeld said. They will then build the interior walls and install plumbing, mechanical, electrical and technology systems.

Plans call for a 13,350-square-foot athletic complex that would house an expanded locker room with raisable batting cages, a training room, a sprint track, additional bathrooms, a section for the district's golf simulator and a multipurpose area for numerous athletic programs.

Osterfeld had said the building will be constructed with expansion in mind, so the district has the option to add a gym in the future.

The work on the building was set to start March 1 and finish Oct. 31. The completion date has now been moved to February 2025.

The project was delayed in May because of heavily saturated ground. With the steel set to arrive May 24, board members had voted 3-2 to approve a $96,033.20 agreement with H.A. Dorsten to stabilize the ground to allow construction to proceed.

"Technicians recommended to undercut the parking lot area by 6 inches and install 6 inches of stone with a geogrid fabric," H.A. Dorsten officials had said. "The other recommendation for the building pad is to remove the unsuitable soil and replace it with clay soil from (an off-site location) to build the ground up to the correct elevation."

Grand Lake Volleyball will donate volleyball equipment for the athletic complex. Also, the pole vault pit the district recently replaced may still be used in the facility as a cost-saving measure.

In other business, board members

• heard about the K-1 Bridges Math Pilot program.

• approved an agreement with the school and Bottling Group LLC, or Pepsi, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029. The board had amended the agenda to discuss the item in executive session. After executive session, the motion passed. The company will deliver the pop and service the coolers the school has.

The board meets next at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in the community room.