Schools

Bid to Resurface Stoughton High Track Accepted

Town Meeting members approved up to $100,000 to resurface the track in June. The School Committee voted Tuesday night to accept a bid from Cape & Island Corporation for $97,400. The hope is the project will begin in mid-August.

The School Committee unanimously approved the bid to resurface the at at their meeting Tuesday night, after Town Meeting members to resurface the track in June.

While the approved bid—$97,400 from Cape & Island Corporation—came in under the $100,000 spending limit, it was not the lowest bid the School Department received.

Tracklite Systems submitted a bid of $81,975, but after concerns were raised over their quality of work, the School Department opted for Cape & Island, Joel Harding, Supervisor of Support Services for the , told School Committee members at Tuesday’s meeting.

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Harding said he ended up speaking to about 15 different schools regarding Tracklite Systems, a company based out of Andover, MA. Harding said based on these conversations, it “became obvious that Tracklite Systems was not a company I’d be comfortable recommending.”

He described an “avalanche” of sorts where he’d call one school looking for a reference for Tracklite, and then would be referred to multiple other schools that also had concerns.

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Harding said the concerns that were raised had to do with the quality of materials or amount of materials being use—the company would say they were using one material, but then use another, or say they were going to use a certain amount of a substance, but then use less.

On the other hand, there were no concerns over the references for Cape & Island Corporation, a company based out of Pocasset, MA. In fact, Harding said a lot of the schools which had not been pleased with Tracklite recommended that Harding use Cape & Island. 

Harding said it was an “unfortunate situation,” but he said he felt “we’ll appreciate the work [Cape & Island] does.”

Typically a school is required to go with the lowest bid for a project like this, but Harding said he spoke with the Attorney General’s office and the AG’s office said it was within the School Department’s right to accept the most responsible bid.

So, the School Committee voted to accept the “lowest appropriate responsible bidder”—Cape & Island.

The high school track has not been resurfaced since it was originally installed in 1986-1987, Harding said.

The resurfaced track will be black, with white and orange lettering. Harding said the hope is to have the project begin in mid-August, with it completed in time for the start of the school year in September.

Residents will be notified of the construction dates so they can make alternative exercise or recreational plans.


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