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There may be a light at the end of the tunnel but the Pottle Street Ballfield Committee is doing it’s level best to complicate the project before they cross the finish line. Their legendary folly of years past begins to pale in comparison with their latest wacko moves. First they fire Kevin’s Landscaping, their chief contractor amid a blizzard of publicity only to sheepishly ‘unfire’ him a few days latter in a brief meeting with little or no discussion.

The methodology behind the madness is mind numbing at best. First we are to believe that the committee was justified in its actions because the contractor’s work was so "sub-standard and behind schedule” that only the most severe action could save the fields. If that was the case why was the fired man fit to be hired less than seven days later when, after an inspection the committee heads declared the work on the fields to be up to standard?

It is interesting to note that Kevin Leone, principal of Kevin’s Landscaping, sent off letters to the Town on July 8, July 9, and August 14 of this year explaining why other activities on the fields were making it impossible to make deadline. He sited lack of water, debris from other contractors, no grade stake placements at irrigation heads, and interference from fence pole obstructions which hampered his work meaning the town was not meeting its contractual obligations. Six days after Leone’s last memo, he was fired for not meeting deadlines.

While the Committee was condemning the excavating and field preparation work, they seem to be satisfied with some of the sloppiest fencing work to grace a public project. (See photo) We found several posts that were obviously too short. Rather then placing the correct length, an appendage was added to make up the difference. The joke here is that the fence is holding up the pipe. There may only be a few instances of this bonehead "fix”, but we don’t see the Committee hammering the contractor on this one. There is also the issue that the bottom of the fence in many areas fails to come within the accepted 2" clearance to the ground level. In some places clearance is over 6". We have seen no indication of corrective action being taken by the Committee or the contractor. There is only so much berm can do to create a practical cure.

The Ballfield Committee’s recent choice of meeting location leaves a lot to be desired. First, they met at the construction site. The last meeting was held inside a steel shipping/storage container when 60 mph winds created dust storm like conditions making it impossible to converse. You had to be there to appreciate the absurdity of that little picture. Seven Committee members, the press, staff and a member of the public, huddled in a windowless, darkened container while a dust storm raged outside. Picture also, the three warning signs an intrepid traveler would have to pass in reaching the meeting: one sign warning that passage was at your own risk, and two no trespassing signs. The road is sandy, rutted and littered with intermittent pockets of stone fill. The site is hostile to the able bodied, it is clearly not handicapped accessible. It is for these reasons that we filed a complaint with the DA’s office.

Finally, we had to chuckle when the Committee voted that they would not be slighted by the Selectmen and urged that Board to explore the Christian Vineyard Fellowship building as a possible site for a Senior Center. It needs to be remembered that while we always call this group the Ballfield Committee, its official name is the Community Center Committee. They pitched the purpose of the committee to include such a center when they won Town Meeting funding along with approval to proceed. It has been clear all along that a Senior Center was the farthest thing from their minds. At no point was there any such planning involved. We wonder how much money the Committee can turn back to the Town if the Center is removed from their plate? That, plus the fact they are building one less field with the Davis’ property in dispute should provide a hefty sum of cash. Right? Hello? (wink).

Carl Sandberg was right when he wrote the poem, "Grass”. The words go like this, "I am the grass, I cover them all...” Maybe the grass of the new fields, when it grows and when they are finally built will be enough to erase from memory the sorry road we’ve had to travel to reach our goal.

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