The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
New scoreboard going up at Pierson
CROMWELL — The Board of Finance has approved the purchase of a $65,000 scoreboard for the football field at Pierson Park.
The board acted this week after hearing impassioned pleas from the mayor, two members of the Town Council, the head of the boosters club, and the coach of the Cromwell/ Portland Panthers football team.
The new scoreboard — which officials say they will have up and running by the first game of the season — will be more than just an ordinary tally of game stats. It will have a screen that school leaders said can be put to use as an outlet for various student projects, and which town officials believe could become a venue for showing movies outdoors.
The existing scoreboard, at the south end of the field adjacent to the Town Garage, is some 30 years old and was pre-owned when installed. It has been failing with greater and greater frequency, officials said.
“It really doesn’t work. It tends to peter out in the middle of a game,” Councilwoman Samantha Slade told the board.
What’s more, like most things that are three decades old, it has become increasing difficult to find replacement parts for it. The new digital board is intended to rectify those issues.
In calling for approval for the proposal, Mayor Enzo Faienza said, “This is not ‘a want’ but something we need.
“Time is of the essence. This is in the best interests of the town,” he added.
Faienza described the proposed scoreboard as a “middle-of-the-road” option.
Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said the town had reviewed a host of scoreboards and then presented the council with a list of some with prices ranging “from $38,000 up to one costing $106,000.”
One of the options that was reviewed but ultimately rejected cost $200,000, Faienza said. The council weighed the merits and ultimately chose the $65,000 option.
Salvatore said Friday that the town has not yet chosen a vendor. The proposal will be vetted and reviewed by the town’s director of finance to see that it meets all the requirements and is on the state list of approved vendors.
It will then be reviewed by the foreman of the parks department. If all those reviews are positive, the town will order the new scoreboard. Salvatore said it will be installed where the existing one stands.
The cost is being split by the town and the Board of Education.
In a letter Slade read to the finance board, Anne Grasso, a member of the Cromwell Arts Alliance, said the scoreboard could become “a multipurpose display board” that could be used as “a forum to present art projects,” and, perhaps, transmit live
productions of operas.
Councilor Allan Waters said a new scoreboard “is desperately needed,” and would “increase attendance” at the games as well as help draw more people into the historic downtown.
Sports booster Brian Dufresne was the driving force behind the effort. As the old scoreboard failed more frequently, Dufresne said he and the boosters decided to press for another one “that is going to be an investment in this town’s future.”
Dufresne embarked on a tour, inspecting scoreboards both near and as far away as lower Westchester County, N.Y. “I’ve done my due diligence for sure,” he said.
Like other speakers, Dufresne said the scoreboard could become a means to knit together Cromwell High School students who play sports and those who don’t.
More than a dozen members of the team attended the meeting in bright red shirts.
Their coach, former CHS and Grambling State University player Randell Bennett, said the team began with 24 members and has grown to more than 60. Describing himself as “super-passionate about this job,” Bennett said, “Everything we ask of these kids, they are willing to do.”
After the board acted and the meeting adjourned, team members waited outside Town Hall to thank board members, along with Faienza and Salvatore.