Park District Board Finalizes Platform Tennis Expenditure

The expenditure and construction for the new  additional Platform Tennis courts at Maryknoll Park were finalized at Tuesday's park district workshop meeting. 

The park district will purchase two used tennis courts from Reilly Green Mountain for $98,407.20. After  accounting for court installation, lights, six heaters and shipping from Connecticut, the total cost will be $126,852.

The $150,000 that Platform Tennis promised to help fund the project was delivered Tuesday, Executive Director Cory Atwell said, and will be put in the Glen Ellyn Parks Foundation.

Atwell said Platform Tennis is happy because the board met their needs.

"If they're happy, I'm happy," Vice President Ron Aubrey agreed.

Superintendent of Finance & Personnel Nick Cinquegrani said the project will be part of the 2011 fiscal year budget. Cinquegrani said the board does not have to vote on the expenditure at the Dec. 21 meeting.

The $126,852 expense for the used courts and installation is $33,412 less than if the park district would have gotten two new courts alone.

Reilly Green Mountain already had a bid of $145, 288 at the Oct. 19 meeting, but failed to have a bid bond. A bid bond is required by Illinois law for new purchases over $5,000 as a guarantee the contracted company will provide the agreed upon equipment.

Besides Reilly Green Mountain not having a bid bond, three other companies either did not have a bid bond, or bid over the project's proposed budget.

"Since they didn't have a bid bond, we went back to Reilly to see if they had any used equipment," Superintendent of Parks Dave Scarmardo said.

Scarmardo said he and Atwell wanted to buy the used equipment so the project could go forward.

"With buying new equipment through the Illinois state bid process, any project over $5,000 has to have a bid bond for that," Scarmardo said. "But being that it's used equipment, it doesn't follow under the state statute requiring a bid bond. It isn't necessary when purchasing used equipment."

With the project finally moving forward, Scarmardo said two to three weeks are needed to finish court and heater installation, rerouting of gas lines and putting in the lights. He said the project should be completed by January. 

Both Scarmardo and Atwell both have seen the new used courts and were satisfied with their quality.

Commissioner Julia Nephew asked Scarmardo at the meeting if it would be worth purchasing the new courts, because the old courts are almost as expensive. 

Scarmardo said the courts will be resurfaced and will be of high quality. He added there would be a one-year manufacturer's warranty on materials, the same as if new courts were bought.

New timers for the lights and heaters will be looked into, Scarmardo said.  The model being examined is a simple egg timer.

The timers will have independent switches to light one court or all four courts simultaneously. They will have alarms to warn tennis players that there are five or 10 minutes left before the lights turn off.

John Glavin, of 163 N. Lambert Rd., suggested there should be an override to save some money if matches end early.

"Hinsdale has a kill switch, or an override, so if a match ends early, that stops the light before the timer," Glavin said. " The lights wouldn't still be on."  

Still wondering just what platform tennis is exactly. Check out our article on the sport and its devoted players .

Patch has made a correction to this story. It originally stated that Platform Tennis delivered a sum of $50,000 towards the purchase of the courts. The story has been corrected to read that a sum of $150,000 was delivered.