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The Joplin Board of Education will revisit a proposal from the athletics program to replace the artificial turf at the Joplin High School softball field in a special meeting next week.

The decision was made Tuesday night after the board voted 3-2 in favor of the replacing the turf, but panel rules require a majority vote of the full board for such actions to pass. Given that two board members were absent and that members wanted additional information anyway, the group agreed to revisit the matter.

The proposal calls for the project to be completed by Mid-America Sports Construction for $355,151. Derek Gander, vice president, and members Brent Jordan and Donald Greenlee voted “yes.” Board President Jeff Koch and member John Hird voted “no.”

Matt Hiatt, athletics director, said a total of four artificial turf fields at the Joplin High School are in need of replacement. The turf was installed in 2014. The goal is to replace the artificial turf on each field annually at the high school.

Based on recommendations from Midwest GMAX, the district’s independent field testing contractor, the softball field should be completed first, administrators said in reports to the board.

“Your average life of turf is somewhere between eight to 12 years,” Hiatt said. “For those of you who were on the board at the time, if you remember, we got 12 years out of the turf at Junge Field that we recently replaced. We have our fields evaluated every year by independent Midwest GMAX. They’ve been tracking that and maintaining that, measuring the hardness of our fields, fiber height, level of infill and those types of things.”

Hird asked if it would be cheaper to install real turf rather than artificial turf. Hiatt said he could do some research on that.

“I don’t have the math in front of me to accurately answer that question,” Hiatt said. “I will tell you that the biggest benefit to having artificial turf is that it can rain 10 inches that day and as long as it’s not raining at 4:30 p.m., then we’re going to be able to play. It’s been a huge benefit.”

Hird said in order for the Board of Education to make a fiscally responsible decision, they need to see all of the data and price comparisons.

Board member Donald L. Greenlee II asked if there were any health or any safety issues for athletes who play on artificial turf as opposed to grass. He added that he wouldn’t mind spending more if it meant protecting the students. Hiatt said that he’s seen arguments from both sides.

“I’ve seen studies that say that you’re more susceptible to a knee injury on an artificial turf field, and some of them say you’re not,” Hiatt said.

Koch requested the proposal to be discussed again during an upcoming meeting in order to review data and prices on artificial turf and real turf.

“It helps us say that we’ve made a decision based on some data other than just the price,” he said. “We can afford it. It’s in our bank account, but just because we can afford it doesn’t make it the right decision.”

Kimberly Barker is a news reporter for The Globe who covers Northeast Oklahoma, Southeast Kansas, as well as Carl Junction, Carthage and Webb City. She can be reached by email at kbarker@joplinglobe.com or by calling 417-627-7364.

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