A “time out” for the fields

Gramando in his office at the pole barn
July 3, 2009
by Christine Yeres

This week, the head of New Castle Recreation and Parks Department, Bob Snyder, met with Joe Gramando, director of facilities and operations for the school district, to talk about prized field space belonging to the town and to the school district, all of which is heavily used by residents.

School sports programs are conducted on the school district’s fields nine months of the year. The town’s sports offerings make use of the town’s fields plus school district fields both after school, on weekends and throughout the summer. Each year the town pays the school district a fee for its use of district fields. 

Last year, during budget tightening, the town board delayed its payment of about $80,000 to the school district, then paid up, but resolved to find ways to coordinate their interests better. Some members from each board made an excursion together to inspect the fields late last year. Snyder and Gramando, who have met frequently this year, picked up the discussion again last week.

Closing fields on a rotating basis

Both Snyder and Gramando worry about the condition of the fields, all of which get little down time for repair. Summer programs are in full swing now, with fall programs hot on their heels. “You don’t want people seeing a big hole at first base,” commented Gramando. “ It doesn’t look good to people who live here or to visiting teams. Not to mention the liability.”

“Bob and I talked about closing fields on a coordinated, rotating basis, beginning in October,” explained Gramando. “The town needs to operate fields until Thanksgiving for its soccer and lacrosse programs. That doesn’t give me enough time to sod. But if we can say that from mid-October we’ll close down a field and sod it, then close another afterwards, it’ll work well.” 

Snyder said that this way, when fields close down, “we won’t feel the pain as much.” Both agree that in cases where the grass has worn away and soil has become compacted, sod is the only real fix and maintaining it subsequently is critical. “To let young grass grow and to get it to where it’s hardy enough to survive sports you need an entire year,” Gramando stated. But he doesn’t have the luxury of that kind of time. Sod takes less time to establish itself, putting fields back in play sooner. 

Town and school district to share field services

Gramando said Snyder proposed that the town board and school board purchase some shared services and target some specific improvements, rather than having the town simply pay a specific amount, like last year’s $80,000, into the school district’s general fund. “When I worked for the Carmel school district,” Gramando explained, “we would work with the rec department to come up with ideas for specific improvements like a new backstop or dugouts, or sod for an infield. People feel good about seeing what they’re getting for their money.” 

Snyder has been head of the New Castle Parks and Recreation Department for close to 20 years. Gramando, who worked for the Carmel school district for four years and for Lincoln Hall for eight years before that, was hired in September 2009, after the Chappaqua Central School District’s fields and operations position had remained unfilled for several years. 

“Joe and I speak the same language,” said Snyder, “and he’s being very proactive with the buildings and staffing. He’s been a terrific addition to the school district. He understands our needs for facilities and I understand his need to renovate and maintain. We agree on the concept of taking money and applying it to specific improvements. But the two boards have to sit down together and hash a lot of this stuff out. And at the end of the day they’ll do what they feel is in the best interest of the community.”

In the summer, the school district will maintain its fields for use by town baseball, softball and lacrosse play. In the fall, the town runs soccer, baseball and softball programs using school fields. The town’s football program does not use school fields. School fields are also used in the fall for student football, field hockey and soccer, and the town programs move in at the end of the day when school sports finish, and also use the fields on weekends. The town accomplishes most of its field maintenance using department of public works crew; most of the school district’s field work is contracted out. “We’re trying to totally communicate,” said Gramando. “We’re talking about doing grass cutting bids together next year.”

An accounting of fields

The town possesses seven fields including the recreation field downtown next to town hall; three baseball and softball fields and one upper soccer field at Gedney; one baseball field in Millwood; and one multi-purpose field on the Amsterdam property in the West End.

The school district has seven fields at Horace Greeley High School including the competition field (the football field); a varsity baseball field; an upper baseball field; an upper soccer and lacrosse field; a field with two softball diamonds; two lower soccer and lacrosse fields alongside the senior parking lot; and a lower soccer and field hockey field near the pole barn. They cover 650,000 square feet of territory.

Seven Bridges Middle School has an upper football and softball and a lower soccer field in front of the school.

Robert E. Bell Middle School has two soccer fields that end at the back of the community center and one baseball field bordering on the Bell parking lot.

Westorchard Elementary School’s one lower soccer field is used by the town.

Grafflin Elementary School and Roaring Brook Elementary School have one large field each, mainly for gym and play; neither is used by the town or schools for organized sports programs.

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