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School district might sue for new field turf
By Rhiannon Meyers
The Daily News
Published October 10, 2009
FRIENDSWOOD — The company that manufactured the artificial turf at Friendswood High School’s football stadium rebuffed the school district’s request to replace the turf, Superintendent Trish Hanks said.
Friendswood school district officials asked Canada-based FieldTurf Tarkett, which has manufactured turf for more than 40 universities, dozens of National Football League teams and three Major League Baseball teams, to replace the carpet of artificial grass, which has come unglued in scores of spots.
The company countered with an offer to haul away the old carpet for no charge and give the district a $100,000 discount on new turf.
“That’s really not acceptable to us,” Hanks said. “I’m just really surprised and disappointed.”
The company declined to discuss its offer.
“We have responded and are actually awaiting a reply from Friendswood,” Darren Gill, of FieldTurf Tarkett, said. “Until there is a mutual understanding of the current status of the field and future direction, we cannot comment.”
The school district is contemplating litigation, Hanks said.
The district has spent a little more than $1 million to replace the turf and track at Henry Winston Memorial Stadium, 702 Greenbriar. But the turf wasn’t properly installed, resulting in more than 300 repairs in the past three years, Athletic Director Steve Van Meter has said.
The school district hired Atlas Track to replace the turf three years ago. Atlas Track has an agreement with FieldTurf Tarkett to install its product only. FieldTurf Tarkett then hired Dallas-based RS Global to install the turf at the Friendswood stadium in summer 2006.
The district claims the company hired unqualified day laborers off the street to lay the artificial turf and that crews did the installation in a rush. Workers still were putting down turf an hour before the 2006 season’s opening football game, district officials have said.
FieldTurf Tarkett has extended the district’s warranty on the field and agreed to make repairs at no charge, but Hank said she’s worried that, when the warranty expires, the district will have to buy new turf.
Trustees will continue to discuss the issue at the November meeting.
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