By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
Touchdowns at Badger Stadium will look quite different beginning this football season with flashing LED lights, likely of red and/or blue. The stadium light in general will be much brighter and cooler.
The Arkadelphia Board of Education gave its approval Tuesday, July 16, 2024, to accept a $175,000 bid from Sports Lighting Group to install high-visibility LED lighting at the stadium. The Houston, Texas-based company is throwing in colored lighting, essentially for free, in order to tap into the Arkansas market, according to Jimmy King, director of support services.
King, who first addressed the school board in October 2023 about upgrading to LED, said upkeep on the halogen lights has gotten more difficult and expensive.
SLG’s bid happened to be the lowest of three companies’ proposals.
Discussion about the upgrade lasted about 20 minutes as administrators fielded questions from school board members about the looming deadline to finish the project before season begins, and whether the district was financially capable of making the purchase.
King said once the equipment is delivered, the company should start working on Aug. 5 and spend no more than a week on installation. The Badgers’s first game of the 2024 season, on Aug. 30, will take them on the road to take on the Camden-Fairview Cardinals. The first home game, the first Friday of September, comes the following week against the Hot Springs Trojans.
As for cost, the district’s business manager, Krystal McClane, said the purchase is affordable thanks to a rollover from a budget surplus from the previous fiscal year.
Ultimately, school board president Blake Bell called the LED upgrade a capital improvement project that is “going to have to happen at some point.”
After taxes and a state-mandated performance bond the total package comes to around $200,000. An annual $1,500 licensing fee, which covers upkeep of remote access to the colored lights, will be required after the first year.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s lengthy meeting, the board met briefly in executive session to discuss personnel. Upon reconvening in public the school board approved the following recommendations:
Employment
Ondrea Green, assistant band director, AHS
Richard Resnick, middle school math teacher, Goza
Resignation
Jordan Williams, secretary/bookkeeper, Peake
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