BOE Forced to Pay Thousands to Fix Bleachers Buried in Snow

The snow may be long gone, but its ramifications continue for the Board of Education.

The school board's Finance Committee Tuesday struggled to find funds to pay for repairs to bleachers at Hamden High School's football field that were damaged when buried by snow dumped on them by plows clearing the Louis Astorino Rink parking lot.

Apparently whoever plowed the rink, which is located behind and above the football field, pushed the snow over the rink property and on to the bleachers, burying them, causing enough damage to render about a quarter of them unusable.

With graduation two weeks away, the seating has to be fixed to accommodate the hundreds of guests expected for the ceremony. And that, school officials said, will cost $37,600.

"It was the plowing from the rink that pushed the snow down the hill and dumped it on the bleachers," BOE Finance Director Michael Belden told the board. "It has to be fixed before graduation, and then we'll figure out who is responsible."

It's not known whether it was a town Public Works employee or a hired contractor operating the plows that pushed the snow over the bank, school board chairman Michael D'Agostino said.

"If we can figure out who it was, if it's allowed under their contract we will seek reimbursement using our attorneys," he said.

"That is the question," Facilities Director Mark Albanese said of who did the rink plowing last winter. Normally Public Works employees clear the streets using town-owned trucks, but because of the abnormally large amounts of snowfall, the town hired independent contractors to supplement the town's fleet, so there's a chance the truck that plowed the rink was not a town-owned truck.

About 25 percent of the bleachers were affected by the snow dumping, Albanese said, and work is under way to repair them in time for graduation June 27.

"The repairs are in process now," he said. "It's one of the critical things we need to have ready for graduation -- without the repairs, they wouldn't have been able to be used."

If it is determined that it was a town-operated plow that did the work, it's not likely the school board will be reimbursed for the repairs, D'Agostino said.

"We'll probably have to end up paying it," he said.