ROARING SPRING — The Spring Cove School Board voted 8 to 1 on Tuesday night to accept an $800 proposal from Champs Track & Field Services to patch damaged spots in Central High School’s pole vault area.

All board members voted in favor of the proposal except Samantha Snowberger.

The decision follows a 7 to 2 vote in the board’s previous meeting to purchase a $135 track repair kit to save money in lieu of hiring ATT Sports to replace cracked spots for $5,170.

Superintendent Betsy Baker said the buildings and grounds supervisor Aaron Barnes looked into fixing the 4-square-foot spot himself, but decided that he and the maintenance team weren’t qualified to conduct such repairs.

Hearing about Spring Cove’s predicament, she said another school district reached out and recommended Champs Track & Field Services, which could patch the cracked area for $800.

Baker also clarified to the board that the proposed repair by ATT Sports would have removed and replaced the damaged part of the track, restoring all its underlying layers. The repair by Champs will also cut out the damaged area, but completely replace it with the top layer of the track instead.

After speaking with a representative from ATT Sports, Baker said neither option will perfectly match the track, but the patch will be less likely to match. The patch also has a higher likelihood of sustaining damage with use.

Barnes recommended ATT Sports’ proposal because Central’s track system is impermeable, whereas the patch would be permeable, allowing water to seep through.

When board President Amy Acker-Knisely asked for a potential ATT Sports repair timeline, Barnes said it wasn’t likely to be completed before the end of the track season.

“The more you mess with it (the cracks), the more you risk danger, and then we won’t have a pole vault this season if we damage too much in the process,” he said.

The track remains solid and safe for the rest of the track season, Baker said, so the district can wait to work with either company until the summer.

Because the board rejected ATT Sports’ proposal, she said they could approve Champs Track & Field Services’ offer or reject it and revisit ATT Sports’ original proposal.

“If you take the money out of the picture to repair it properly, ATT would be the right way to do it,” Barnes said.

Board member Kevin Smith said he personally inspected the track and noticed that the rubber top was never sealed by ATT Sports when they replaced the track. Because concrete lies underneath the track, he said it won’t suffer any structural damage.

The patch installed by Champs Track & Field Services is made of polyurethane rubber, which will keep water from entering. But whoever repairs the track must seal its edges so water doesn’t enter.

“Paying $5,000 to have that fixed is ridiculous when we have two companies that say that anybody can fix it,” Smith said.

The $800 for the patch work will be taken from the district’s general fund balance.

All board members were present at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.