Condensed comments made to our school board at the Monday, April 20, 2009 Board meeting by Ross Raymond, a candidate for school Board.
Good evening Vice-President Adams, members of the Board and Superintendent Frailey. Thank you for allowing me to speak about last week’s approval of $5.25 million for artificial turf at all 6 of our high school campuses.
Superintendent Frailey inspected our grass fields and determined something needed to be done. He asked his senior staff to look into the matter and come back to him with options. I am confident this proposal was put before him by well intended individuals. There is no question in my mind they honestly believe it is the right course of action.
Even so, we should slow down and reconsider this proposal and allow time for the board to more carefully consider viable alternatives and also to provide reasonable time for public comment. There is just too much at stake to rush this matter along.
I realize there is a natural concern and desire to fast track this for this fall’s football schedule. However let’s recall for 110 years Katy HS students have played on grass fields and won several state championships in the process, and one more season of playing on God’s natural grass surely will not hurt us.
On the other hand, a hasty decision in these uncertain economic times no matter how well intended, may haunt us for years as not only do we suffer the expense of $5.25 million but we have to pay interest as well. As homeowners we all understand interest. Interest expense is why our homes cost us three times the sales price by the time we pay off the note and make no mistake about it KISD taxpayers will be required to pay back this $5.25 million plus interest.
Mr. Gunnell, our Chief Operations Officer, spoke to the Katy Times which I now quote, “The synthetic turf would save the district $150,000 in maintenance fees over the next 10 years.” Let’s put that in perspective, if KISD deposited $5.25 million into a bank CD paying 4% interest at the end of 10 years that CD would be worth $7,771,282.50. It would have earned more than $2.5 million dollars in INTEREST vs our $150,000 savings.
We were told the useful life of this turf is 8-10 years therefore we must budget $2,000,000 for replacement of the turf which we would in turn finance pushing the cost of this project north of $10 million dollars over a 10 year period. These artificial fields would add significantly to the construction cost of each new high school.
If the real issue is that we cannot keep our grass fields in proper condition then I respectfully suggest we turn our attention to that problem and see what needs to be done. If necessary lets hire local Katy landscapers and grass contractors to take care of our competition fields.
Let’s not take natural grass fields away from our kids who spend most of their days in rooms without windows unaware of what it is like outside. Let’s not lose focus, these high schools are for our teenage children who benefit from learning in life that sometimes you do get wet, sometimes you do get muddy, and sometimes you encounter a rut or divot or both, but still you play, you still move forward.
I respectfully request the Board rescind its earlier action, table this item and allow time for careful consideration of both its cost and what we will lose if we tear up our natural grass simply because we lack an effective grass management program for our competitive fields.
I thank you for your attention.