(Spirit Lake)– Spirit Lake High School football fans may find themselves sitting on temporary bleachers when they attend home football games this fall.
That’s one option the school board is considering.
As we reported earlier this month, the district received notification from its insurance carrier that the present bleachers are no longer safe and should be replaced as soon as possible. The letter stops short of saying the bleachers can’t be used at all.
However, one school board member, Ann Goerss, told fellow board members at a meeting Monday evening she feels it’s important to address the matter in light of the letter from the insurance carrier and the potential for liability.
Superintendent David Smith told the board he feels it would be possible to replace the bleachers with new one, which are already here, prior to the start of the upcoming football season. Smith said demolition of the existing bleachers could be done in-house.
And even though the new bleachers are already here, concrete footings and foundations would need to be poured prior to them being installed. Smith said he needs to get firmer costs on that and that he needs to see how firm donations are that were earlier pledged for the project. He expects to have that information in the next seven to 10 days.
School board members will then be updated on the matter and will decide on which option to pursue, including the one of setting up temporary bleachers should they find out there isn’t enough time or financial resources to proceed right now in putting up the new ones.
Regarding the condition of the track, it was decided to see if temporary repairs can be made to get it through atleast the next season.
