The Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved the Recreation Commission's recommendation to close the fields at St. Paul's for the fall 2002 and spring 2003 seasons. Trustee Jon Segerdahl, who was away on vacation July 18 but was aware the board was voting on the issue, sent his approval via e-mail in which Trustee Barbara Miller read to the public. It stated he was in full favor of the commission's recommendation and hoped his fellow trustees would be the same.

James Furey said the commission met July 15 with representatives from the various village sports organizations who regularly use the fields at St. Paul's, including Centennials, the Rams, the school district and the Garden City Athletic Association (GCAA).

"All of these parties acknowledge the necessity to close the fields for two seasons," he told trustees last Thursday. "The commissioners themselves have been out at the various fields in the village, evaluating the fields to see how they can be reconfigured."

Randy Colahan, vice president of the Centennial organization, had a different understanding of the issue. "My understanding was that we agreed to close for the fall season and then reconvene in September or early October to discuss what would happen for the spring," he told trustees. "So the agreement, as I understood it, was to close for the fall and the Recreation Commission would work with us not to curtail any games, but perhaps curtail practices. I didn't endorse closing the fields for spring. I thought we'd reconvene to see if it was practical or possible to close them in the spring again."

Furey reiterated the plan is to close the fields entirely for two seasons. Trustee John Mauk told Furey and Colahan he's concerned with the lack of understanding. "We must make sure that all the sports representatives are in full understanding of the plan," he said.

"The piecemeal approach hasn't worked," Furey said. "We need to close for two seasons." The commission requested that organization officials give them their requirements for field sizes and their needs in terms of hours per day. "We've been told we'd have those requests by the end of this month," he said. "We expect that by mid-August we'll have schedules for the fall season and we're hopeful that we'll be able to fit all of the normal activities that go on at St. Paul's at other facilities in the village."

School district representatives that attended the July 15 meeting promised to make more school district fields available for fall soccer, Furey noted. "Each rep offered a willingness to cooperate to reschedule their activities in order to fit as many activities as possible on the other village fields."

The commission expects to have a schedule of all fall activities prepared by Aug. 20 and is dedicated to working with all the sports organizations to relocate their activities where and whenever they can do it. "We're looking forward to opening the fields in much safer conditions," Furey said.

The board of trustees approved a contract and allocated a certain amount of money for the field renovations, including turf work and a new irrigation system. The installation of a shallow irrigation well system is slated for this month and should continue for the next five weeks. Officials expect the irrigation system to be fully installed by a target date of Aug. 15. If Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, however, the plan may stray off schedule. If all goes as planned, the fields should be back in service by the summer of 2003.