Some call “free” field a model of public-private partnership; others, a dirty deal West Milford In two weeks, West Milford should have its long-awaited turf field. It only took seven years, a superintendent’s resignation, the threat of an injunction, a botched football season, and a $2.25 million land deal to get it done. Greg Allen, of Ringwood, pledged to donate the field, to incentivize West Milford to buy a 99-acre tract dubbed Random Woods, which Allen had intended to develop until the Highlands Act rendered it useless to him. The majority of the town was in favor of the deal, a model of how government and private industry can work collaboratively for the public good. “The township council succeeded in preserving a 100-acre tract in town and at the same time negotiated, very successfully, in securing a field that’s worth in my opinion at least $800,000,” said Allen, who owns construction company DT Allen. “They leveraged their funding from the county and state.” The project’s driving force, Town Councilman Joseph Smolinski, touts the field as “absolutely free” for West Milford taxpayers. But others have taken umbrage with what they call a pet political project that flouted the rules. “There are so many things that aren’t right about this deal,” said Jim Foody, the only school board member to vote against it. “The money that’s being used is from the Open Space fund. It reeks.” In West Milford, Open Space funds can only be used to buy and protect land, not for recreation. Town Councilman Robert Nolan voted for the field, but said it was rushed. “You wonder why I’m all jacked about this,” said Nolan. “It’s not just one thing. At every level, there’s something’s not right, and you start to wonder, why? What’s so hard about doing something right? If anyone asks questions, they’re bad people who are trying to stop something good for the public. That’s the attitude.” A brief history of a field-hungry town Town officials have been pushing for a turf field in West Milford for years, but because it’s expensive, residents voted it down three-to-one in 2004, and said no again in 2007. “We’re always hurting for fields,” said Smolinski in 2007, “but we’ll have to get creative as far as funding goes.” Smolinski was thinking of grants or donations. What ended up happening was more creative than anything he’d imagined. “The way this thing worked out,” said Smolinski, “it actually fell in our laps.” In 2008, West Milford entered into a conditional agreement to pay $2.3 million of state and county money to buy Random Woods - sans field - using open space funds from the county and state. At that time, “the value of the property was a moving target,” said Allen. “We didn’t want the township to feel uncomfortable that they were paying too much for property so we said why don’t we offer the township something more than we were offering before, to incentivize the deal?” The town council jumped at the opportunity to secure the field it had been talking about for seven years. But restrictions on Random Woods and an alternative location were slowing the project down, so the council turned to the school district. “The only place they could do it that wouldn’t involve the DEP or state regulations was the board of education property,” said school board President David Richards. When the Council asked the board of education, “Do you want a football field for free?,” it was a no-brainer, said Richards. West Milford High School’s grass football field had been deteriorating every year due to over-use, according to athletic director Tim Gillen. “There’s plenty of parking. It’s lit. It’s a win-win for the whole community,” said Richards. “We did not get into the politics of it.” Merrily we roll along The town council put $500,000 of the $2.25 million for Random Woods into an escrow account, to be delivered upon DT Allen’s construction of a multi-purpose field or else returned to the township after a year. Preparations surged ahead. Allen, who was not required to put the project out to bid, chose his brother-in-law, Terrence Allen, president of Dakota Excavating - a respected company that has done turf fields before, according to a competitor - as the subcontractor to do the job. “It would be hard for me to go to the Christmas party and say I didn’t give you the job,” Greg Allen joked. The land deal closed in June, and the shovel was supposed to hit the ground Sept. 1. The turf had been ordered, and heavy machinery was already at the field, when the problems started rolling in. It gets messy School board member Foody threatened an injunction if work went forward, and hours before the work was set to begin, then-Superintendent Bernice Colefield put the project on hold in order to contact the state Department of Education to make sure the necessary permits were in place. The delays would eventually eat up all but one of West Milford’s home football games, the school district would lose money on concessions and spend money on busing, and the Highlanders would go one and nine. Two days after she issued the stop-work order, Colefield handed in her resignation on the second day of school. The board’s infighting was a “tremendous burden on her,” said Richards. “It was nasty.” Council and school board members harshly criticized Foody for causing expensive, disheartening delays, but he was not alone in his concerns. “To this day, I’ve not seen a copy of the contract between these people that made this agreement with the town,” said John Aiello, a school board member who was absent for the field vote. “We’re told we don’t have to see that agreement, it’s not really any of our business. I don’t agree with that at all. If somebody’s making a deal to install our field, we’re involved, and we should know everything.” “None of the due diligence was done,” said Councilman Nolan. “They bypassed having our environmental commission review project. Is the turf itself safe? Is it going to impact any nearby wells? The planning board needed to review it, they almost blew by that. There has been an environmental review, but it was done kind of after the fact.” When word got out that Gregory Allen owed $203,127.40 to the federal government for payroll discrepancies on an old construction project, Nolan felt that Allen’s financial stability was uncertain, and questioned why the project’s cheerleaders were trying “to blow this stuff past the public.” Allen told The Messenger the lien was a civil matter that had no bearing on the deal at hand. Almost the best Work finally began in November, but one detail that remains foggy is what grade of turf has finally been laid. Although the turf is under warranty for eight years, the quality will affect how the field looks and plays as it ages. Engineer Phil Pirro, of Pirro Associates Consulting Engineers, who sent DT Allen an unsolicited $480,000 bid to install the field, thinks the town got less than the best. “West Milford dropped the ball,” said Pirro, who primarily installs playing fields. “We should have demanded it be state of the art, not any synthetic turf field.” Pirro estimates that the carpet on McCormack Field costs between $375,000 and $400,000. Allen said he donated between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of “extras” in the form of a center logo; markings for a third sport, lacrosse; and colored end zones, but told The Messenger he doesn’t know how much Dakota spent on the turf. “Is it the Rolls Royce of the industry? Probably not,” said Allen. “But it’s the equivalent of a Cadillac if not better.”