SPRINGDALE -- The City Council plans to go with GeoSurfaces to provide new turf on many of its ball fields.
The council, working as a committee of the whole, on Wednesday moved forward for a vote a $3.7 million contract with GeoSurfaces for purchase and installation of the turf.
The council also forwarded a $975,000 contract with GeoSurfaces to supply and install other upgrades to the fields, which could include lighting, backstops and scorer's tables.
Both contracts will be paid from the 2023 Parks and Recreation Bond Fund, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.
Voters on May 9 approved a $360 million bond program with $16.3 million for park improvements.
GeoSurfaces offers a unique, state-of-the-art product for fields, Mark Jones of Blackfin Sports Group told the council.
"GeoSurfaces has a product that no other city in the country has on outdoor fields," Jones said.
The city hired Jones as a procurement officer for the project because city staff aren't experts in turf, said Colby Fulfer, chief of staff for the mayor. Jones said he received proposals from and interviewed six turf companies.
GeoSurfaces, as the winning contractor for the project, will pay Jones' fee, Fulfer said.
The city will improve three baseball fields, the soccer field in the Randall Tyson Recreational Complex and all six fields at J.B Hunt Park. It also will outfit four new fields at Shaw Family Park.
With installation of the new turf, the fields also will become more flexible, providing playing surfaces for several sports and for various age ranges, Jones said. For example, a soccer field at Tyson also will be marked for lacrosse. The fields at Hunt that previously have been used strictly for softball also could host baseball games.
GeoSurfaces offers a 25-year usage on its structural GeoBase system, Jones continued. "That's three turns of turf," he said. "You can replace the turf three times without having to pull out the sub-level."
Other contractors offered only one-year warranties on their base systems, Jones said.
Jones further explained that most sports fields are filled in with sand and tiny, black rubber pellets for shock absorption. GeoSurfaces' has no black rubber pellets that fill a base-runners' waist line if he slides and leave black marks on uniforms that mothers work to remove, he noted.
GeoSurfaces also said it could meet the city's timeline, with the fields at Tyson and Hunt completed by February, when the city's Parks and Recreation Department staff starts preparing the fields for play in the spring.
The completion of turf installation at Shaw will depend on the schedule of the contractor building the fields, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.
Council member Brian Powell asked about drying time for the fields. Rain often causes delays or cancellations of the games because the fields are too wet for play.
Jones said the GeoSurfaces fields will handle any 100-year storm. He noted one location that decided not to use GeoSurfaces' drainage infrastructure still drained in 20 minutes.
Sprouse noted the city's turf will include the drainage system.
Another bonus: Charles Dawson, chief executive officer and president of GeoSurfaces' Advisory Board, recently has moved to Springdale and likely will use Springdale's fields as a company showroom, Fulfer said.
Jones noted all intramural sports fields at the University of Arkansas and Auburn University sport GeoSurfaces' turf.
The company's website lists among its clients the NFL Pro Bowl, the New England Patriots, University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, Baylor University, Clemson University, University of Florida and the University of South Carolina. Also area high schools at Greenland, Bentonville, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Pea Ridge and Shiloh Christian School use GeoSurfaces' products.