Tennis court resurfacing draws board's attention

A sense of urgency could be heard in the voices of Troy School Board members while discussing the need to resurface the district’s four tennis courts.

“It’s a matter of resurfacing it for a little over $20,000 or ripping it up and replacing it for $200,000,” board member Steve Garrett said last week during the trustees’ monthly meeting.

Superintendent Brady Selle said that county commissioner John Konzen agreed to put up $10,000 from the county’s parks fund and that the booster club agreed to pay $3,000. The remaining $7,000 is still up in the air.

The board said that the tennis courts were last resurfaced in 1995 and have been showing signs of cracking for a few years now.

There was discussion of asking the city to chip in, although an attendee pointed out that the city receives its parks funds from the same pot that the county’s $10,000 is coming from.

Selle said the tennis courts must be replaced before winter.

Next year’s high school budget currently has a surplus of $6,723 and the elementary school has a $9,809 surplus. The board will discuss where to allocate the funds at its budget meeting next month.

Selle said that although the money has not yet been spoken for, it could easily be spent in a number of areas.

“Maybe we can find something in the budget that we can switch around and cover that,” he said. “It would be good for another 10-12 years.

In other news from the June 8 meeting:

• The board unanimously voted to purchase a new bus to replace a 1997 model that has been having mechanical problems. Selle said he would apply for stimulus funding that would pay for half of the purchase of a bus, which has a bid price of $93,151. The district buys a bus about every two years and has 10 buses in all, a couple of which are spares.

• The board unanimously passed three changes in policy that were requested by the Montana School Board Association due to changes in state law.

• The board approved the 2009-10 bus routes, five in favor and one – Heather McDougall – against.

• In a 5-1 vote, with McDougall opposing, the board approved summer school instructors Amelia Downey, Andrea Cummings and Nancy Prieve.

• Board chair Sylvia Maffit volunteered to represent the district on the county transportation committee.