Gilford to vote on Meadows building repairs

GILFORD — The town of Gilford will vote March 8, on whether or not to spend $75,000 on repairs and upgrades to facilities on the Meadows, a youth athletics field utilized by the Gilford School District. The funds are marked under article 3 of the 2022 Gilford School District Warrant.

The facility was donated to the Gilford School Board in 2001 by the Carye family. The property consists of several fields and a massive barn structure with a garage.

The property was given to the district under the condition that the property be “used exclusively for educational purposes, which purposes shall directly relate to and which will generally benefit the children of the Gilford School District.”

The proposed $75,000 will be spent on minor upgrades to the garage area according to Amie Leigh, Gilford School District’s business administrator. 

“It’s just exterior, some new garage doors, new siding, new windows, a couple man doors, a gigantic overhead door, down below they’ll be another overhead door for access to the basement section,” Leigh said. “One whole section of the bottom of the barn is covered in plywood which is rotting off. There’s an animal den down there with ground hogs and other things.”

Leigh explained that the plans would also provide some secure storage in the building for teams to safely store their gear. The main doors to the barn are in the old fashioned sliding style. According to Leigh, they’re also rotting and falling apart.

The donation of the field allowed for the creation of Gifford's first football team, and has since been a hub for youth sports in the community. Lakes Region soccer and lacrosse have all held games at the facility.

“I think the fields here are in decent shape,” Leigh said. “We’re lucky to have as many as we do. Two years ago, they were able to do some field repairs with money that was raised by donations. Those fields have been repaired.”

“We had to fracture aerate the field, we did a soil analysis and then we put all the amendments on the field that were needed to bring the field back to the correct pH levels for the grass to thrive,” said Mike Normandin, a Lakes Region lacrosse coach who helped out with the property.

This work was paid for by a small trust fund set aside specifically for the Meadows. 

Members of the committee stressed that the fund is very small, and is not currently suitable for major expenses such as the repairs listed on the warrant article.

As a result, the Meadows still has to rely on school funding for bigger repairs and projects. 

“The funds are solely used for things at the Meadows,” Meadows Committee Chair Karen Thurston explained. “The school district can use their funds for the Meadows, but the Meadows funds cannot go back to repair a roof at the school.”

“In order to make any improvements on the school districts property, it has to go before the voters for their approval,” said former school board member Sue Allen.

“That was one thing we did feel, is that the voters needed to have a say. That’s why it went on as an article instead of being buried in the budget,” Thurston said, “so that we’re completely transparent that we are asking for town money to be used to move forward with doing these things.”

The Meadows committee members hope that by educating the public, they can gain support on their vote.

“I think the problem is a lot of people have moved to Gilford since the original gift,” Allen said. “So a lot of people are unaware of the situation.”

The tax increase from the warrant article also poses some difficulties for the measure, according to Leigh. 

“It’s fifty-fifty,” Leigh said when asked about her confidence in the warrant article’s vote. “There’s an emotional attachment to keeping the building and keeping it alive, and there’s the taxpayer side that says ‘not a dime’. I felt monetarily that this was the best start to see if there was any interest in restoring and keeping the building.”