Board gets good news about Eggerss work

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Work at Eggerss Stadium is on schedule – perhaps even a bit ahead of schedule. That was the word during Wednesday’s meeting of the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education.

Superintendent Mark Bagley said the massive renovation project is progressing as planned or even better, and Assistant Superintendent Bill Clifton shared many of the details about the project, which began earlier this spring.

Clifton said his information comes from regular progress meetings and he said to this point, weather has been ideal for work at the downtown stadium. He said concrete has been chipped and broken down and resealed on the top side, with membrane material set to go down next.

“The membrane is a three coat process,” Clifton explained. “It will be a slightly darker gray…we couldn’t match it up exactly because it only comes in four or five colors. They have to apply the membrane material over the whole stadium, three coats, and they’re going to start after they power wash.”

A noticeable portion of work this week has included removing tons of dirt from the field and replacing it with a stone base.

“They brought 25,000 tons of stone in today,” Clifton stated. “When I came in it was like an army of trucks coming down Jefferson St., one right after the other and they lined up and waited to get into the property and unload the stone.

As far as the actual installation of artificial turf, it will likely be a few weeks before that process begins.

“We’re probably not going to see turf until maybe early July but once they (Maumee Bay Turf) start it won’t take long to finalize the turf,” Clifton told the board.

He also noted electrical work is underway and black fencing will be put up. Another important aspect of the project, restoration of the Cougar Pride Wall is done, but one key piece remains.

“We have two coats of gray paint on that wall, not only on the field side but we made a decision to paint the north side of the wall, Clifton said. “We’re in the process of figuring out if we’re how we’re going to re-apply ‘Cougar Pride’ with the cougar head on the wall. We’ve made a decision to, if we can do it, instead of painting Cougar Pride back on the wall, we’re going to use an aluminite material that can be anchored to the wall with graphics on each letter.”

Clifton added it would look identical to if it were painted and he said school officials should know soon if it can be done. He also said he’s pleased with how the various contractors have worked with a great deal of cooperation.

Bagley noted other possibilities are being examined in terms of revenue and advertising at the stadium.

“Our legacy team is almost ready to present to our board what some other things we can do,” he said. “We don’t want to make the stadium gaudy at all – that’s not our intention. We have advertising on the wall at the Goedde building, but there’s people knocking the door down right now asking for different opportunities and we’ve almost got that solidified.”

The renovation project became a reality after school district voters widely approved a 20-year, 1.15 mill bond issue in May of 2022. The bond issue generated $5 million for work to the stadium, which has been in use since 1936. Work is being done in different phases.

The Cougars are slated to kick off the home portion of the regular season schedule August 25 vs. Bath.

The school board handled a number of agenda items, including personnel moves during Wednesday’s meeting. Check Friday’s News page for more information.