Montoursville board approves $13,500 proposal for drainage and soil study at athletic fields

During the May 26 work session, the Montoursville Area School Board reopened agenda item 3.6 and voted to approve a drainage and soil study for the C mall baseball and soccer fields.

Board discussion focused on three competing proposal scopes: Livic’s Option 1 (flat-fee $13,500 as described in the meeting), a Bassett option that included geotechnical testing and a more extensive investigation, and intermediate scopes that combined topographic mapping, storm-water evaluation and soil investigation. Dan (staff) said the geotechnical option would identify soil types and provide a more technical recommendation for drainage; he and others cautioned that choosing the wrong scope could leave unresolved field drainage problems.

Board members asked whether the work would interfere with practice schedules and learned staff would schedule sampling and any digging around athletics schedules. Members also asked about permitting and reimburseable permit fee line items; staff said at the investigation stage there should be no permitting required and that the reimbursable line described project expenses, not an unavoidable permit cost.

After discussion the board approved the Livic Option 1 proposal by voice vote. The motion as presented at the meeting did not include named movers or a roll-call tally in the minutes; the approval was recorded by unanimous voice reaction with no roll-call numbers recorded on the meeting record.

Next steps: staff will coordinate field access to avoid conflicts with athletic events and proceed with the selected investigation scope.