The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
School board awards bid for field
TORRINGTON >> Lafferty Enterprises will reconstruct the softball field at Torrington High School, after the Board of Education awarded the bid to the Harwinton-based company Monday evening.
Once completed, the new field is expected to include a fence around the playing field, according to Director of Facilities David Bascetta, a new backstop, new grass, and a regrading of the existing field, which is now set on a slope, among other aspects.
Two bids for the project were originally submitted — one by Lafferty, the other by Jespersen’s Landscaping of Torrington — both of which exceeded the budgeted amount of $122,388.
The board Budget Committee directed Bascetta to go back to the contractors and ask if they could reduce their pricing for the work earlier in the month.
At the time, committee members also voted to strip potential additional expenses, such as the installation of a threeinch conduit for a future scoreboard, potential excavation, the construction of two player benches, the installation of wind screens for the dugouts, and a set of three “breakaway safety bases,” from the project to lessen the prospective cost.
In response, Bascetta said, both contractors removed potential addon expenses — including, notably, the possible cost of rock excavation — thus reducing their bids to the point that they were within the prescribed budget.
Steel benches to go in each of the respective dugouts, previously included as an additional item at the field, were also moved into the main project by both contractors, Bascetta said.
Bascetta recommended Lafferty Monday, touting the experience of the company — it has undertaken an “almost identical” project in Southbury, he said, in addition to work on city parks on Griswold and Jackson Street — and easy access to alreadyowned equipment.
“He’s a little bit more established with this type of work,” said Bascetta, who praised Jespersen’s as a “very conscientious contractor” as well.
Board members weighed the two possibilities — Lafferty’s bid was $540 higher than Jespersen’s, as described, and the latter is a citybased company — but ultimately chose the Harwinton contractor, according to board chairman Fiona Cappabianca.
The reconstruction of the softball field was planned in response to Title IX-based questions that were put forward during the construction of the turf field at Torrington High School, as discussed.
Title IX, as described on the website of the U.S. Department of Education, “protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.”
“The field was not a playable field,” said board member Ellen Hoehne, a former softball player. “It was OK, but it wasn’t a playable field.”
The work will likely alleviate these concerns, Bascetta said.
“I think this will cure a lot of the ailment up there, for sure,” said Bascetta.
The board previously discussed installing lighting at the field, but since the softball team does not typically play night games, and lights are not planned at this time.
The last work on the softball field took place in 2000, according to Bascetta, when the area was renovated.