Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

Several big projects have passed their first hurdle during a Brighton School Board meeting Monday.

The board approved getting further information regarding the turf replacement for three athletic fields, upgraded and accessible playground equipment at Hawkins Elementary and replacing the fuel tanks at the transportation building.

The pricing would include a pad being placed under the turf to add extra protection for the athletes.

The fields at Scranton Middle School, the High School football field and the High School auxiliary field have all reached the end of their “useful life” and need to be replaced.

The board unanimously approved a motion that the price would not exceed $2.57 million. The pricing for the turf and pad options are determined by a consortium, which doesn’t include bids. The consortium means that the price has a set minimum and maximum.

With the current proposed plan, the field at Scranton Middle School would be replaced during the summer of 2025, and the two high school fields would be replaced the following summer.

The price includes all three and locks in the rate for the two fields that are set to be replaced in 2026.

The Hawkins Elementary PTO raised a little more than $30,000 to put in playground equipment that is accessible to children in wheelchairs and those that have other special needs.

The PTO planned to utilize wood chips as the base, but it was proposed to use either a combination of wood chips and rubber or go with an entire rubber matting ground.

The extra cost for the equipment and ground cover would be covered by the district.

Midstates Recreation offered three quotes that differed based on the ground cover. All wood chips would be $109,520, a hybrid of wood chips and rubber is $146,392 and all rubber matting would be $187,574.

The board requested plans be drawn up for all three options and a decision would be made during the next meeting.

The fuel tanks for the Transportation Department were inspected by the state, who indicated four violations that must have the work to fix them by June 12.

Corrigan Mechanical said the current monitoring system isn’t made anymore, but they could install a new system for $110,000.

The tanks themselves are 32 years old, and had warranties that expired after 30 years. Due to the age of the tanks, it was recommended by Corrigan and the state inspector that they be replaced with aboveground tanks.

Corrigan quoted the replacement between $400,000 to $500,000. The price includes new tanks and removing the old, underground tanks.

The next step is to have bids from several companies by the next meeting. Several companies said they could have the new tanks by the time school ends.

The next School Board meeting is Apr. 14.

(photo credit: BAS School Board via YouTube)