Coopersville Athletic Boosters

October 11, 2010

Dr. Kevin O’Neill, Superintendent

Coopersville Area Public Schools

198 East St.

Coopersville, MI  49404

Dear Dr. O’Neill:

The Coopersville Athletic Boosters held a regular business meeting on October 4^th, and discussed a recent article (“District Eyes Bond Leftovers”) from the September 28^th edition of the Advance Newspaper. We were pleased as taxpayers and supporters of the CAPS district and athletic programs to learn that there are still funds available from the 2006 bond issue. While we support the use of these funds for the potential projects listed in the article, we wish to propose another project to be completed using some of the surplus funds.

At one time, as the District made plans to replace the track and stadium natural grass with our current artificial turf, there was community support to finalize the renovation of the stadium, specifically razing and replacing the concession and restroom buildings at the south end of the stadium, as part of the next bond issue. The next bond issue was the 2006 bond, and these projects were left out.

At our October 4^th meeting, the Athletic Boosters voted to ask the Board of Education to consider using some of the surplus funds of the 2006 bond to replace the existing restrooms and concession/ticket building at the south end of the stadium. The concession/ticket building was built nearly 50 years ago, and the toilet building was built about 10 years later. Both are the primary facilities for spectators from out of town, as well as for a large number of our “home” spectators.  While each building has served its purpose throughout the years, it is well past time to replace them. These two buildings sit at the first main intersection of our campus and are visible to all campus visitors. Functionally and aesthetically, neither fits in with the rest of our campus.

Since 2005, the Athletic Boosters have contributed over $150,000 to our athletic programs for a variety of needs, including sports equipment, fees, team participation incentives, athletic trainer support, etc. To help move a south stadium renovation project forward, the Boosters have approved a pledge of $50,000 to be used to make a new concession and restroom facility a reality.

We hope this pledge will encourage the Board to approve such a project.  The Boosters are committed to this project and stand ready to help in any way the Board directs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jack Smoes, President

Coopersville Athletic Boosters

CC:      Board of Education members

            R. Veldman

               S. Bennink

Coopersville decides how to spend balance of bond funds

Published: Monday, November 29, 2010, 11:00 AM

 By Jeff Cunningham | Advance Newspapers

The Coopersville school board has decided how it will spend half of the roughly $3 million leftover from a bond issue – upgrading security at the high school and making the athletic stadium handicap-accessible.

The money is left over from the 2006, $41.5 million bond issue.

The projects will cost an estimated $1.5 million, according to Superintendent Kevin O’Neill. “The first thing we needed to address was building a secure vestibule at the high school so that during school hours, all visitors are funneled into the office,” he said. All of the other school buildings on campus have secure entrances, he added.

The new entrance will cost an estimated $130,000.

Improvements to the stadium in 2004 didn’t include making the bleachers handicap-accessible, O’Neill said. In order to make improvements on the south end of the stadium to make the bleaches handicap-accessible, the current concession stand and entrance will have to be moved. Those facilities will be upgraded, as will the current restroom facilities. New team rooms will also be constructed with the help of a donation of $50,000 from the district’s athletic boosters.

Those improvements will cost close to $1.4 million, O’Neill said.

The remaining funds will be used to buy close to $600,000 in technology improvements in the next few years and several buses over the next three years. The remaining funds will be spent on other smaller improvements, he said.

“This will give us everything on our ‘wish list’ for this bond issue except air conditioning in the elementary schools and a pool for the district – both of which would have been too costly,” O’Neill said.

Construction of the vestibule and stadium improvements are expected to take place next spring.

Jeff Cunnigham can be reached at jeffc@advancegr.com

We will provide additional updates here as they become available. 

Thank you.  -  Coopersville Athletic Boosters