Avon Lake Schools athletic facilities getting new scoreboards, turf over summer

AVON LAKE — When Avon Lake student-athletes return to school in the fall, they will be met with new turf and a new scoreboard at Avon Lake Memorial Stadium and new scoreboards at the baseball and softball fields. The Board of Education authorized the purchases Tuesday evening after hearing from athletic director Brent Schremp that the current scoreboards malfunction regularly and the fibers in the turf are breaking down. "Our power supply boards began to blow, which caused the video boards not to work," Schremp said of the stadium scoreboard. In some cases, the boards blew in the afternoons before highly attended sporting events and were not properly fixed in time. Some problems with the boards cost $1,000 to repair, Schremp said. Scoreboards at the baseball and softball fields are also old and malfunction frequently, only working properly about 20 percent of the time, Board member Ron Jantz added. The new stadium scoreboard will include both a modern video board and a more traditional "static scoreboard" below it that does not run off a computer. The baseball and softball scoreboards will be entirely static, with displays of runs scored per inning and other stats. A nearly $195,000 price tag is expected for the stadium scoreboard and $22,813 is expected for the baseball and softball scoreboards. Installing all three will cost $22,700. Money is coming from the district's general fund, and the athletic department will pay the money back within five years using advertising revenue. The current stadium turf was first installed in 2010 after the passage of a bond issue in November 2009. Replacing it is expected to cost around $383,000. The district has been setting aside permanent improvement funds yearly in anticipation of replacing the turf. In an effort to not waste the existing turf, the athletic department is looking to take some of it to the baseball and softball batting cages for use there. The new turf will be similar to the current field, but unlike the current field, it will have lines for lacrosse stitched into the turf itself. On the current field, lacrosse lines have to be added prior to competition, Schremp said. Ideally, installation of the turf would begin in early June and the scoreboards would go up around seven weeks after being ordered. The goal is to have everything done in time for fall sports to begin, assuming the coronavirus outbreak has abated. Later in the meeting, district treasurer Autumn Reed said the time to renew a 1.5-mill permanent improvement levy is approaching, and she is looking to get it on the November ballot. The levy generates around $700,000 annually for the district and has been renewed every five years for about 30 years. The board did not take any action regarding the levy Tuesday but is expected to vote next month. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.