Thank you everyone who stood at Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting to insist the board follow through on the Ann Lees athletic field renovation project. Our concern with its mismanagement should not overshadow the larger concerns about the condition of the town’s athletic fields, the lack of plans for their upkeep, and the strategic planning vacuum that exists with regard to the use of—and future needs for—these important public facilities.
Mismanagement of the Ann Lees project is distinctly different from whatever process led to its scope and design, and the decision to pursue it. While we bear witness to the lousy weather, nonperformance of the contractor, and inadequate project oversight, even the most involved officials and informed residents could not see the participants, decision-makers, and inputs of a rushed process whose output was a band-aid.
Had the project been properly scoped, spec’d, and funded, it would still be late, and we’d still be bemoaning the contractor, the climate, and the project’s mismanagement. But at least we’d know there is an equitable and adequate end result coming, and that due diligence on the town’s needs had occurred before the project was put before voters. But that did not happen. The project seemed to emerge without so much as a nod to Parks and Rec, Bromfield athletics, or other stakeholders’ needs.
As such, the project is a representative lens through which the status quo can be viewed. Athletic field governance and jurisdictional roles and responsibilities remain undefined and opaque to the public; communications between town boards and officials are inadequate; and a general inference by the community of this project being deprioritized after its overwhelming approval at Special Town Meeting has taken hold.
That is why we ask the Select Board to keep athletic fields top-of-mind as it prepares for its upcoming annual strategy session off-site. The board needs to recommit to the well-researched and prioritized portions of the current Master Plan and 2016 Open Space & Recreation Plan that deal with athletic facilities. It needs to support other town boards and committees that are advancing the public interest in active recreation and athletic fields.
The benefits of active recreation to students and public health are well documented. Practical, achievable objectives on this front are accomplished by communities with far fewer resources and less involved citizenry than Harvard’s; surely we can get it done, too.
Dan Daly
Littleton Road
