The town of Scarborough owes a huge debt of gratitude to Eric Lenardson and Sports Turf International for the outstanding job they did installing an artificial turf field at the Mitchell Sports Complex. Lenardson and his crew worked diligently for two months this summer to provide Scarborough with the finest athletic field in the state.

Sports Turf International has the best product on the market. This, combined with cutting-edge technology and the attention-to-every-detail oversight of Lenardson, has resulted in a state-of-the-art playing surface for the young men and women of Scarborough to enjoy for many years to come. The new surface will maximize our use of the high school field, as well as provide a weather resistant, safe and high-quality playing environment for the athletes.

Sports Turf International installed this field at a tremendous discount to the town to further establish their business reputation in Maine. Scarborough obtained a field that is double the value of what was actually budgeted because Sports Turf International contributed an estimated $200,000 in out-of-pocket expenses toward this project. In addition, Sports Turf International constructed a playing surface of 100,000 square feet, even though the contract required only 90,000 square feet.

It’s very unfortunate that an employee of the school district, acting on his own accord, would send a memo to the media making false claims concerning this project. The memo sent by Norm Justice, facilities director for Scarborough schools, defamed the business reputation of Sports Turf International. This may result in a lawsuit against the school district, apparently because Justice wanted to settle a political score with the four councilors that voted in favor of the Town Council appointing the next school building committee (as authorized under state law).

The fact is Justice has absolutely zero experience installing artificial turf. He was never seen at the work site other than to take a photo of an area the contractor decided to adjust while the project was still under construction. He never once brought any questions to the attention of Community Services Director Bruce Gullifer, even though his office is right across the hall.

It’s ironic the memo was issued the very same day the assistant superintendent, athletic director, town manager and community services director signed off on the field and were extremely pleased with the final product. Justice was asked to attend this site walk. He refused to take a couple of minutes out of his day to attend to have his “concerns” addressed. I guess that is all anyone needs to know regarding whether these “concerns” were ever valid.

It’s shameful that a school employee would be allowed to put the school district into potential litigation to pursue his personal political agenda. He is not a member of an elected body, and thus should never be involved in the politics of any issue. To do so at the expense of an individual (Eric Lenardson) and a company (Sports Turf International) that just made an extremely generous contribution to the community is just plain wrong.

Jeffrey A. Messer

Scarborough Town Council