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The Blount County Board of Education voted, 6-1, Tuesday, Aug. 2, to spend $3.86 million to install synthetic turf football fields at Heritage and William Blount high schools.

If the Blount County Commission approves of the spending, the money would come from the school’s fund balance and work would begin as soon as the football season ends. BCS athletic directors said the only other field in the region that is still grass is in Cocke County.

Before the vote school board member Vandy Kemp said, “I’m really conflicted over this for a couple of reasons,” but she would vote for the motion.

“I want our kids to have nice things,” she continued, adding that synthetic turf is more practical for fields that are heavily used.

“I don’t think it’s going to make more people attend games,” Kemp said. “I don’t think it’s going to make more people play at Heritage and William Blount — I think that’s all nonsense — but I’m doing it for our kids.”

“And I want Robbie Bennett to be happy,” she added to laughter, referring to the HHS athletic director, who also is a member of the Blount County Commission.

“I know that in East Tennessee — and I’ve been here 45 years — that football is the juggernaut,” she said, adding that she is a supporter. “But I also worry about women’s sports, and I worry about mixed gender sports, and I’m going to pay attention, and I’m going to be right back here pushing for good things and nice things for all those other teams too.”

“We have got to make sure that we’re being fair to all the athletes in the county,” Kemp said.

Board member Debbie Sudhoff called the current grass fields “absolutely gorgeous,” but she noted they require a lot of upkeep. “If we had to put a price tag on it we would probably be astonished at what we are paying for the upkeep of those beautiful grass fields,” she said.

In interviews after the meeting William Blount Athletic Director Scott Cupp said striping the field alone can cost $1,000 a week, and Bennett said it can be a five- to eight-hour job for one person. Cupp said at other schools coaches aren’t also mowing fields. Upkeep includes fertilizing and trimming along fences too. “We want our coaches putting that time in with the kids,” Bennett said.

Sudhoff said what convinced her to vote for the proposal is the current impact that rain has on plans to use the grass fields by multiple groups, including other athletes, bands and the Special Olympics.

“If it rains on a Thursday then Heritage Middle can’t play because it’ll mess up the field for Friday,” she offered as an example.

Cupp noted that William Blount’s soccer team has to practice at Carpenters Middle.

At Heritage football alone includes Grasshoppers, Pee Wee, Midget, middle school and freshmen teams, in addition to the varsity, Bennett said.

He estimates 450 to 500 students use the HHS field for various activities, and rain has forced the cancelation in the past of a band festival that is a major fundraiser as well as forced delays in the Special Olympics because of field conditions. “With (artificial) turf as soon as it stops raining you’re ready to go,” he said.

The athletic directors said they expect the synthetic turf fields to last at least a decade.

The school board’s plan is based on a proposal from Hellas Construction Inc. of Austin, Texas, through a cooperative contract. The bid includes replacing the goal posts and installing a high jump standard pad at each school and a long jump/triple jump landing pit at Heritage. That brings the base price to $1.72 million for HHS and nearly $1.69 million at WBHS.

The school board also opted to add D Zones at each school behind the goal posts, for activities such as long jump, high jump, triple jump and pole vault. Those add $189,700 to the cost at Heritage and $189,800 at William Blount, bringing the total to $3,788,500 before Blount County Schools’ Chief Financial Officer Troy Logan recommended adding 2% for possible contingencies.

Board member Fred Goins, the only vote against the proposal, said he would have preferred the money to come from Fund 177, which may be used only for capital projects, instead of the fund balance for general purpose spending.

In making the motion at the beginning of the called meeting to take the nearly $4 million from the previously undesignated general purpose funds, instead of Fund 177, board member Scott Helton said, “We’ve got plenty of money.”

Spending the money on the synthetic turf projects will leave about $7 million in the fund balance, according to Logan.

BCS also is putting in synthetic turf at the new sports complex at Eagleton College and Career Academy, as it transitions from being a middle school to serving grades six through 12. The field there is nearing completion.

The Blount County Budget Committee is expected to consider the proposed spending for HHS and WBHS at a 5 p.m. meeting Tuesday, Aug. 9. Because of that the school board has moved its Aug. 9 meeting to 6 p.m.

Amy Beth earned her degree from West Virginia. She joined The Daily Times in 2016 on the education beat covering Alcoa, Maryville and Blount County school systems.

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