BOS approves lights, 4-1

Night football, baseball and softball games on school fields are coming to Rappahannock County later this year under a county-backed plan approved Monday evening by the Board of Supervisors.

The vote to approve the controversial proposal was 4 to 1, with Supervisor Roger Welch of Wakefield District dissenting.

The decision was a major victory for the Rappahannock County School Sports Association, which put on a well-organized campaign to gain county backing of the project, and a defeat for citizen opponents who objected that the lights would spoil the county’s famous dark skies and would put taxpayers on the hook for making the $38,178 annual payments over 10 years if RCSSA fails to raise the money through donations, as promised.

Under the 10-year lease-purchase agreement approved by the board, Musco Lighting, an Iowa-based sports-lights producer, will install lighting systems on the football/soccer field at Rappahannock County High School, and the baseball and softball fields at Rappahannock County Elementary School.

The lights will consist of banks of down shielded 1,500-watt bulbs mounted on galvanized steel poles 60 feet to 80 feet tall; four such poles will light the football/soccer field, six poles will be installed at the baseball field and four at the softball field.

The price tag on the installed system is $395,000. RCSSA says an anonymous donor has given $100,000 toward the project, reducing the amount to be financed and underwritten by the county government to $295,000. Payments at 4.88 percent interest over 10 years would be $38,178 annually. RCSSA reiterated its confidence Monday that it will be able to raise enough each year to make the payments, but the contract makes clear that the county is obligated to pay if the group’s fund-raising falls short, Peter Luke, the board’s attorney told the supervisors.

Before the supervisors voted, Luke briefed the board on his extensive discussions with officials of Musco Lighting and its financing arm, Musco Finance, on the terms of the agreement and the risks to the county if adopted.

Luke told the board there are risks in both the financing terms and in the contract to install the lighting systems. "I can’t characterize it as being favorable for us (county government)," Luke cautioned. He said Musco had written the terms of the contract to favor the company rather than the county.

Among the risks in the installation contract, Luke said, are these: The county will be responsible for removing any trees or fences in the way of the installation; also, "if their contractor tears up the field or the track during construction" the contractor would not be liable and the county must pay for repairs; a rock clause states that if the contractor hits rock that interferes with installation "we are responsible . . . we have to pay for it."

The terms of the financing with Musco "are more problematic," Luke said. "What we are talking about is risk–who is going to have the risk." He added, "It’s sort of like when you buy a house" and go to closing to read pages of small print that all favor the lender. "If you want to buy the house, you sign," Luke said.

"If you go into the deal," Luke told the supervisors, "if this group (RCSSA) can’t come up with the money, you are going to have to do it….Politically, once those lights go out there, you are not going to be able to take them out," if there’s a default by RCSSA on the payments. "You are legally going to have to come up with the money."

Rich Hogan, president of RCSSA and a teacher and coach at the high school, responded to Luke.

"Mr. Luke painted a pretty grim picture," he said. He defended Musco’s reputation as "impeccable," said that "rock clauses are standard operating procedure" in construction contracts, and said the subcontractor who will install the Musco System "has assured us they are not going to cross the (high school) track" in doing the work.

Board Chairman Robert Anderson said he did not like the clause that made the county responsible to repair damages done by the subcontractor. Supervisor Welch objected that "all the terms and conditions favor them (Musco), not us." He also objected that the contract was not put out for bids, as is usual with county work.

Luke said that under a legal exception to the bidding requirement, "we can piggyback on a deal put out by another locality." In this case, he said, "We are piggybacking on a 2006 agreement in Jacksonville, Florida….This is unusual, but it is legal." Virginia law permits such "piggybacking," he said, without seeking competitive bids.

As supervisors began stating their positions, it became clear a majority was in favor of the deal.

"I initially had reservations," said Edward Wayland of Piedmont District. He heard concerns that the lights would spoil Rappahannock’s dark skies, he said, but when he went to Warren County to see a similar installation last week, those concerns dissolved. He saw little light pollution or spillover, he indicated.

On financing, Wayland said the $100,000 down payment by the anonymous donor "makes me feel a little better." Moreover, "I think it will benefit the kids" and help school sports programs and promote community involvement, he added. "I have gone from having serious reservations to seeing it favorably," Wayland concluded.

Bryant Lee, Hampton District supervisor, said he took his teenage son with him last week to view the lights at Eastern View High School in Culpeper. "He doesn’t like lights," Lee said, citing his son’s experience in playing under lights. But his son thought the Musco Lights were not "blinding" but adequate for playing. "I think that makes a big difference," Lee said.

Chairman Anderson said there had been many letters objecting to lights spoiling the dark skies here, but said, "I don’t see them being on that many hours." Games will be over by 9:30 or 10 p.m., he said, before most people go out "to see stars." He also said the lights would benefit the high school band as much as the sports programs and praised the school’s band program.

Welch based much of his objection on the history of the annual struggle in the county to fund the school budget. He’s been on the board 10 years, and "year after year we struggle" to come up with money for teacher pay raises, school programs and other needs, he said. "Three hundred and ninety-five thousand is a lot of money," Welch said. "These lights may be the greatest thing since sliced bread," he added, but he objected to having to go out to borrow money to install them.

The lights also will increase the schools’ electric power bills, he pointed out. "In any sense, the taxpayer is going to end up paying." Most of the people who contacted him about the issue were opposed, he said. "I would rather spend the money on teachers," Welch concluded.

Ron Frazier of Jackson District observed that every year many persons come to the supervisors to plead for full funding of the school budget. "Here we have a group stand up and say, ‘We want to buy something (for the schools) if you will help us."

Frazier ultimately made the motion to approve the lighting deal, with a contingency that the provision requiring the county to be responsible for any damages by the installation subcontractor be stricken or amended. Wayland, Lee and Anderson supported that motion, while Welch voted against. Luke will seek the required change in the contract before the deal is signed.

Before the vote, there was a brief discussion of the anonymous donor’s request that he be given "naming rights" for the baseball stadium in return for his $100,000. School superintendent Robert Chappell, who observed the meeting, said the School Board’s Facilities Committee had been given three different "naming scenarios," and found none of them objectionable.

However, Bob Czekaj, Athletic Director at RCHS, told the board that the donor has told him recently that the naming rights aren’t important and "he’s kind of let that go." Though Czekaj and other RCSSA officers previously said the donor’s name would be made public if the county approved the Musco contract, Czekaj said now "he wants to remain anonymous" and declined a reporter’s request for the donor’s name.

The lights are not expected to be ready for operation for the full upcoming football season. Installation of the lighting systems is likely to take four to six weeks after final contract details are settled, said Steve Wiley of Musco Lighting. "If everything goes well," he said, the football lights should be ready "no later than the middle of October."

Chappell said he was gratified by the favorable vote. The School Board supported the lighting proposal "because it was best for the kids," he said, adding, "We appreciate the decision of the supervisors."