By Mary Meaux The News staff writer
Posted: Monday, October 13, 2014 8:48 pm
GROVES — Port Neches-Groves High School athletics may soon have a place to hold practice in during inclement weather thanks to donations.
Two local individuals have donated $250,000 and the Athletic Booster Club pitched in $120,000 toward the funding of the building for a total of $370,000. The facility would be located on the high school campus.
Board members with Port Neches-Groves Independent School District on Monday approved a budget amendment accepting the donations which will be used to pay for site work, architect and engineering costs.
Mitch Murdock, president of the Athletic Booster Club, gave some insight behind the donation.
“We find that in southeast Texas you have a lot of rain days and can’t get out to practice,” Murdock said. “And this (facility) would be for all sports. For example, with baseball, you can’t get out and practice in the rain. Same thing with football and with band. There’s no place to go and you can’t go to the gym and tear up the floor.”
The multi-purpose facility would also be able to accommodate golf practice as netting would be in place, he added. The building will be approximately 50 yards in length and would be a metal building.
Board President Rusty Brittain said future donations are anticipated and will be used for the construction of the facility.
Board members tabled a related agenda item for contracting with Construction Zone for site investigation, engineering and architecture costs for the construction of the multi-purpose facility.
“It’s not everyday you receive large donations like we did,” Brittain said. “We want to make sure we do this the right way and do this legally. I guess you can say it’s a technicality.”
In other business, Business Manager Cheryl Hernandez reported the district earned another perfect score on its State Financial Accountability Rating which is a 70 out of 70. A copy of the document will be on file in the district’s business office and will also be posted on the district’s website.
Source: http://www.panews.com/news/local_news/article_030dc9f8-5344-11e4-8a2a-13d1219f1142.html
