How about getting some really good teachers and more AP sections. Why don't we have a vote for those?

After recieving a 22% increase in my taxes this year, I say the buck has to stop here. Why do you people think the checks never arrive? People just don't have the extra money. My vote is NO NO NO

Try and make this once affordable town a bit more affordable. Let's revisit water/sewer rates, a working rec center, smart boards in all the classes, maybe help out teachers and make smaller classes or add aides so the struggling students dont feel so lost. Sports are essential. I get it, but I feel students who are not 100% athletic are lost. I understand the complex can generate revenue but we are losing site of struggling families.

Also Bill Gilman, in the interests of truth, can you verify that the town now needs to pay an extra $300,000 - $500,000 to the construction company and construction control people for overtime costs so this project can come in on time? I thought I might have read this somewhere

Jake, I'm checking on this. The short answer is yes. But I need to qualify that. Throwing a number out (you and I read the same piece) and not explaining the reasons why doesnt serve a useful purpose. So yes, you will see something on Patch soon about how much, why and where that money is coming from.

As to the discussion above on Winter or Weather Condition costs, this last year has had greatly reduced lost time from the average. There should be a reduced construction schedule and a reduced cost via contract change order.

As to the UPGRADED athletic complex, NO!
A dollar saved is a dollar earned.

We need the South St. fire station open before we need this. Use our money wisely please. What will it cost to maintain that complex? Has anyone given an amout to that?

Are these hypocrites who want us to foot the bill for a new sports complex going to pay my tax bill when it arrives every quarter ? I don't think so !!!!! No way in hell am I voting for funds for a new sports complex !!!! Enough is Enough !!! When is this town and officials running it ( into the ground ) going to wake up ? I am not voting for another thing in this town . They need to get their priorities in order and a new complex is not a priority !!!!!

Agreed Its a low priority at this point - they can't even fund the extra expenses to open the new school??

How about the town addressing all the vacant commercial properties that little Rte . 38 ? Maybe something could be reasonably done to entice businesses to set up shop in town !! That to me is more of a priority !!!

Sorry , meant that litter Rte . 38

The athletic plans included in the overall project have already been approved by the taxpayers. Period. People aren't willing to volunteer charitable donations to change those plans so that is the answer. No one in this town should be forced to pay for these new plans, however scaled down they are. THERE IS NO MORE MONEY! And this should NEVER have been a priority with the way the school has been performing.

Just because Mr . Russell claims that the High School is being completed " under budget " , doesn't mean we should go spend happy and make the bottom line come in over budget ! His logic and thinking is ridiculous !!! These people are so irresponsible with our money that it makes me sick !!!!!!

How much MORE money do these people want??? Every time you turn around they want more!!! Having a hard time with taxes now!!! New library, new police station, new high school...Give it a rest!!!! Maybe we should not be getting 2 more cops and a fireman...Save the money and use it to fix the older school that is in disrepair, or the 4th of July program...Just like the Goverment, and the State, they just keep spending, with Our money...Hope everyone gets out when this comes up for a vote...

I'm going to say this again -- there are lots of other things I want for this town with 1.7 million dollars before "sports" comes onto the list. Is all I need: ten signatures to get a warrant article in front of the selectman to have it put on the town meeting agenda for a yes or no vote? Well then, let me get my list ready.

The Town does not need a new sports complex There are plenty of fields in the Town and as many who use them it is still a small number of the town. The school was necessary for the education and an assit to the Town. But as we know in the future there will be cuts in the maintance budget and it will go in disrepair as everything in this Town. DPW can not do work because there is little money for stock to do the work. Same in the School and Town Buildings. So no new field.

Well said BM!!
Whose idea was this?? This is plain old nuts, I bet that person has a child into sports. There is so much like prev posters have stated in the town that should come first. The fire station is my #1 thought. Safety comes before sports!!!! Also why is it sports sports sports in this town? What about the school with no librarian. What about the children who dont have art in in school each year?? Stop focussing on sports. And the rec department that just sits there...more waste of town money. I bet we are paying for the heat now on it..what a waste, close it down for the winter. Use those fields. All we see in this town is spend spend spend and taxes and sewer rates going up. Guess all these people for this must have very nice salaries.
And this overtime I havent heard of this before, they must be well ahead of schedule with not much bad weather this winter, I dont understand that .
And the DPW I dont understand why I see the water truck driving around constantly on Sundays, perhaps they are missing overtime from not much snow removal so finding another way to fill their pockets.

I second this opinion.
As to the UPGRADED athletic complex, NO!

You are forcing people to move out of town that no longer have kids in schools with the raising of taxes every year for more of these types of services. Even people that do have kids will no longer be able to afford to live here if this continues.

Just a couple minor points of clarification here:
First, the original plans for the new high school call for natural grass playing fields to be constructed on the site where the current high school building sits, once it is razed. If you recall, they built the new building on top of the old track and athletic fields, which had been used for everything from track meets to field hockey games to phys ed classes for decades.
Second, the ongoing maintenance costs for an artificial turf field are projected to be lower than the cost of maintaining the new grass fields they are planning to build. Grass fields must be fertilized, watered and mowed, and none of that is free.
Artificial turf fields are comparably maintenance free, and they can also generate rental revenues because they can be used for many more hours than grass fields can be used, without damaging them.
Because they can be used so much, many towns are able to rent their synthetic turf fields to outside groups, thereby generating revenue which helps offset the initial cost.
I'm not saying you should support this, just sayin' you might want to stay tuned to the issue and find out exactly how much (or little) this would cost in the long run.

How many times have we said "No" we don't have the funds for this, that or the other things you have thrown at us??? You people have to start listening to us. If you can't hear us, or can't understand what we are trying to get thru to your thick skulls, than step aside and let someone who understands what "NO" means run this God forsaken town. If you keep on borrowing, the people are going to revolt because they can't pay there tax's anymore. Do you understand that??? My wife and I are on a fixed income and can't afford the last load of crap you threw at us..By the way, there were 21 reply's to this article All "NO" "NO" "NO"
good luck and good night.

Ever hear of " Living within your means " ? So obvious this town doesn't !!!

No no no! If the new high school is coming in under budget that is great. What about using the money to make sure the school has funding for years to come? I do not think a new building alone will improve MCAS scores. What about all the other under performing schools in town? The elementary schools are falling apart, emitting radon, lacking services, space, healthy lunches. We do not need state of the art athletic complexes, we need education. Sports are a benefit not a necessity.

As a three sport, student athlete at TMHS (soccer, indoor track, and tennis), I implore the taxpayers of Tewksbury to see the high schoolers' side of the argument. The new sports complex will be great for students, boosting attendance at athletic events. The athletes at TMHS make up a great percentage of the school and they provide the morale and enthusiasm behind the scenes.
Speaking from experience, our sport teams are excellent at making the best out of the worst facilities. Our indoor track team runs in the hallways for practice. An eight-lane outdoor track would help the indoor/outdoor program and make large, revenue-generating meets possible. Not to mention the appeal of a turf field for football, lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey, without the upkeep of a grass field.
As for the tennis courts (they are included but not mentioned in this article), the convenience of the courts would be doing the girls' tennis team a huge favor, and it might open up the possibility of eventually forming a boys' team also. Currently to get to practice every day, my teammates and I take our backpacks, tennis bags, and racquets onto a bus to the Wynn, where we change and then walk to the courts at Livingston. These courts are fine for now, but the quality is greatly deteriorating due to poor original construction. Essentially, five courts are best for a match. We have three. Sometimes we play matches until it's too dark to see the ball.
So please, see this from another perspective.

well said Jessica!
The elementary schools are a mess...

Kylie,
I understand why you would want it but here is my take. Why don't you go out tomorrow and buy a new Mercedes convertible? Simply because you cannot afford it at the present time. Hopefully sometime in the future you will be able to afford what you want. Right now your money has to be spent on priorities, as well as ours. Hope you understand our point of view

http://beverlysportspark.org/Beverly_Sports_Park/Home.html

This committee was a smoke screen from the beginning raising 2m in 6 months Oh ya
How about hitting up the state and the CPA for funding - self funding means what it says.
I'll go along with .5M if your gang comes up will the rest

A field is going to be built no matter what, so why build something subpar when we have the opportunity to build something that is almost maintenance free and gives us the opportunity to rent it out and make money. By the way, I heard lights were cut from the plans - so Friday night lights will not be an issue. AND, I will not have any more children in the school system when this is completed, my children will all be in College. I just think if we're building it we should do it right from the get go

School under budget means the taxpayer will have to pay less in taxes for the school not that it can spend more to make some elses dream come true. By the way the schools will be looking at 50M to replace 3 of the 4 elementary schools within the next five years.

Justamom, do you know what the life expectancy of the Artificial Turf is and how much maintenance there is for this type of surface?. The life expectancy is 7-9 years if it is maintained. Who in this town is going to maintain it? The DPW doesn't have the budget or equipment! We can't even get a decent coat of paint on our current schools. When the surface wears out we, as tax payers, will be forced to pay the fee for the replacement. Ask Mr Spencer the cost of the installation for the initial surface. Multiply it by 1.5 for removal and replacement, not including an increase in materials and labor!
This group was asked openly in their "neighborhood" meeting if they would ask the town to contribute any funds. The answer was "If we come close to raising the funds we may ask the town for assistance to close the gap" I truely hope that no one in the room was blind to the fact, rasing 2.2 million in 6 months was not going to happen. That is why the question was raised. Here we are now, no closer to 2.2 million and we are hitting the town for money, "just" 1.7 million. (We cut out the lights due to the concerns of the abutters) Well I am an abutter and you weren't concerned then and you're not now!
Finish the school! Save the money and pay some of the bills that the town has incured during periods of mismanagement. Open the fire station that we are still paying for, which is vacant 80% of the time.

If you want a field to rent out, go buy a piece of property and have at it!!

Anyone want to carpool to to NH to get a 30 pack of Bud. I don't have enough money for gas since I spent my last 20 weeks pay on my water bill and property taxes. Plus I won't have to recycle the cans, since there's no deposit there!!

The only way to stop this is to show up at TM.

Let's see, our mtge payment has gone up 80- a month to cover the latest tax increase, our excise tax is 140.- for the "privilege " of driving on these potholed roads, our water bill will skyrocket because there is now a drought ..... Not enough snow to or rain to support us....
Oh wait!!!! We still have to pay the balance due on the sewer pipe running in front of our house ( whether we hook up or not )
We're being nickled and dimed to death...new police station, new library, new high school, and now ? A top of the line sports center???
There won't be anyone living in this town, just a lot of empty houses ........ Where will it end?
You can't get blood from the proverbial stone.....so stop squeezing us

Apparently Mr. Hibner and his cohorts have the money to pay for this !!!! Let him and his group pony up if they are so well off !!!! What hypocrites !!!!

For Rick Spencer:

If it is fiscally such a good deal, the FOTCAC should have no problem convincing a bank to loan them the $$, no? If the money to maintain the field (as currently planned) has already been earmarked, and the cost to maintain such a proposed complex is so much less, you've got your monthly payment right there. What, you say...we don't want a monthly payment?? Well, neither do we. Our tax burden is high enough, and I hate Budweiser.

Is artificial turf the way to go? This commentator says artificial turf fields cost from $500,000 to $2,000,000 and have a useful life of 5 to 10 years?
Grass fields have a 15 year life.

Read and compare. http://www.njwec.org/images/pdf%27s/fac ... alterf.pdf

http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/turf-wars-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-turf
http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/synthetic_turf/crumb-rubber_infilled/fact_sheet.htm

Turf field are great but the environmental concerns are alarming as they are made from products that are known to create health issues that are not a concern in a natural field

Also no pesticides products are allowed to used on school grounds.

Rick,
I 'get it' and aren't quite sure why you feel the need to patronize, unless of course your motivation is to piss people off, but my post was full on sarcasm (with a little economics mixed in). Problem is, sarcasm deosn't translate well in this forum. The bottom line for me is, the FOTCAC is in need of operating cash, cash that isn't readily available. The town's people have spoken pretty clearly here, they aren't gonna pony it up. I would suggest they either drop it and accept the plan as currently drawn up or find another source of cash.

Hey Rick we have a CPA bank thats funding a new town Hall - I hear they're awash in money and looking for good ideas.

http://www.wayland.ma.us/Pages/WaylandMA_Recreation/middle

Next!!!!!

Would the high school football team use this new field? Right now they are on sacred turf. No one else gets to use Doucette Field. Who will determine what organizations get to use the proposed turf field? There are a lot of questions unanswered. I cannot go along with this group of individuals who are trying to push their agenda through.
I also sense that they knew their mission was going to be unsuccessful.
Also, the beer reference is insulting to the intelligence of the readers of this forum. The citizens of Tewksbury deserve more respect.

Bill,

I really appreciate you providing this forum for me and my fellow residents to post comments and discuss Tewksbury Issues in a respectful and informative way.

Jim

There are continuing long running discussions on this issue here:

http://www.tewksburyissues.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9722&hilit=field+status
and here
http://www.tewksburyissues.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=10088

Adding four more cups of coffee to the already 100 cups of coffee a day for all the other "extras" the public is paying for is getting out of hand.....

Bob Ferrari
http://www.TewksburyIssues.org

Where's the facepalm emoticon when you need it?

My kid is in three sports right now...we pay for every one of them....by the way, he does not like turf fields....gets turf burn...also injuries can occur from the turf...I have read in the past that young kids are hurting knees, ankles etc because there is no give to the turf....nothing wrong with a good grass field & running track....just my opinion....

Listen , the next time you go to N.H. for beer, can you pick me up some bottle rockets and cherry bombs? There's going to be lots of fireworks at the town meeting!!!!

Right Cathy. Rick Spencer will be driving us all to N.H. every month in his car for a beer run. We'll see how the economics of that work for him !