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Another round of soil tests for MAC field?

Soil samples taken from the football field at the Manawa Activity Complex in the fall may not be enough to determine the settling issue the field is having. That was part of the discussion the Buildings and Grounds Committee had at its meeting, Monday, April 7.

A second round of soil tests may be needed because of the way the soil samples from the first round were tested. Rather than testing each individual soil sample, the samples were blended together to get one result.

Paul Sturm, a member of the Manawa School Board, said it was his recollection that Point of Beginning, the company that build the field, was to contact the subcontractor to see what materials were used and how it was amended.

“They (Point of Beginning) said they’d make it right. We have to take them at their word at this point,” Sturm said.

District Administrator Ed Dombrowksi said questions with the field arose after grass wasn’t growing as fast as it was supposed to. He said there was also a lot of settling in the field. After the first football season concluded, he said the top layer was taken off the field, and the field was reseeded.

A problem with the irrigation system, which was affected by a lightning strike, and low rainfall amounts last summer compounded the problem, Dombrowski said.

“The question is, ‘Why isn’t the grass growing the way it should?’” Dombrowski said.

This prompted the first round of soil samples and test.

Sturm said it’s a matter of figuring out what the problem is. Once that is realized, then the district and Point of Beginning can work to correct the problem.

“The reality is that it’s buried out there and we’ll know what it is,” Sturm said. “It’s no mystery. It’s just a matter of everybody seeing it with their eyes.”

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