Council Approves Contract for Phase I Multipurpose Turf Project at The Bridge Sports Complex

City Council approved a $7.3 million contract with Fieldturf USA during Monday’s meeting that will be for the construction of Phase I of the multipurpose turf project at The Bridge Sports Complex.

The contract features a base sum of $7,188,964.00 with a contingency of $111,036.00. Of the $7.3 million total, $5.5 million will come from the city and 1.8 million comes from a grant that was one of U.S. Senator Jim Justice’s final acts as West Virginia Governor.

The funds for the remaining $5.5 million come from the city’s sales taxes.

“Funding for this comes from the operating revenue from The Bridge, the sales tax,” Councilman Jason Campbell said. “It’s the success of The Bridge over the last several years that we can get into Phase I this quickly and expand the fields and get more kids on the fields.”

Droo Callahan, the General Manager of The Bridge, said the project will be a huge addition to the community.

“Based on national standards and BRS (BRS Architects), who did our master plan, they advised us that this would be the next big step for our community and economic development, so we worked with Fieldturf to try and secure what the best plan is. This gives us the most versatility in terms of sports.”

The project will feature two full-sized multiple sports use fields, four little league/softball fields and everything will be illuminated. It will also include start-of-the-art backstops. There will also be a restroom, changing facility building and parking put in place as well.

Some individuals who have made good use of the pool inside the Citynet Center at The Bridge were honored by Council during the awards and presentations portion of Monday’s meeting.

The Mountain State Storm swim teams were recognized for their state championships at the club level. The Storm recently captured boys, girls and combined team championships. (Additional photos from the Storm’s recognition in the upcoming days on Connect-Bridgeport.)

Two city employees received Employee Service Awards in Mitzi Bednar for 10 years in the Finance Department and Michelle Leonard for 20 years in Parks and Recreation.

That ordinance was the only unfinished business item on the agenda.

As far as new business goes, Council addressed eight items in addition to the Phase I multipurpose turf project contract.

The governing body approved a resolution that provides the abandonment of an unimproved ally extending northeast from Williams Avenue to a dead end.

Council also approved a resolution that authorized the acceptance of the Fair Housing Plan for April 2025.

The reading of this resolution is an annual occurrence and what it means is that Bridgeport is accordance with federal law that makes it illegal to deny housing to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or any physical or mental handicap.

The June 10 municipal election is rapidly approaching and on Monday Council approved the workers for the election.

City Clerk Lauren Rogers said the city has four poll workers at five different voting precincts in place in addition to a total of five alternates and the two voting commissioners previously approved by Council.

Council approved a revision to the general fund budget.

“This is to address our attorney fees throughout the year,” Bridgeport Finance Director Sharon Hinkle said. “We didn’t have quite enough to get us through the rest of the year so I wanted to go ahead and make sure that we do.”

Hinkle added that the funds to cover the revision will come from capital fund interest.

Council approved two other contracts on Monday. One is with Global Science Technology out of Fairmont for IT support, the other is with Thrasher Engineering regarding the Thompson Drive slip remediation project.

“At our last Council meeting, we approved the contract to begin the work on the Thompson Drive slip area. “This contract ($15,000) will provide a project representative engineer to be on site during the drilling and confirm that everything is done correctly and provide the testing. This is also eligible for the FEMA grants reimbursement.”

Also on Monday, the first reading of amendments to the Mater Fee Schedule was read.

The final order of new business was the announcement that Council will be giving Bridgeport High School Thespian Troupe #7549 $1,000.00 to be used toward the Troupe’s upcoming trip to the International Thespian Festival.

In his city manager’s report, Shuttleworth announced that two officers from the Bridgeport Police Department, Ryan Hamrick and Richard Bartley, will graduate from the West Virginia Police Academy on Friday and will begin 16-week field training next week.

Shuttleworth also said the library will have a new policy that expands home delivery service to anyone regardless of age who is in a permanent or temporary situation that prevents them from being able to get to the library.

Joe Earley, who is running for Council in the June 10 election, was the only person who spoke during the public comment period of Monday’s meeting, and he discussed the recent turmoil in City Hall that has spilled over to social media.

“I’m here because I love this community and I believe that Bridgeport, our home, deserves better than the public degradation that it has been subjected to over the recent weeks,” Earley said. “I respectively call on Council to rise above the social media noise, re-focus on unity and shut down this negativity and lead with the strength, dignity and love this city deserves.”

Prior to the start of Monday’s meeting, Father Chris Scott from St. Barnabas Episcopal Church provided the invocation.

Editor’s Note:Top photo shows City Council with Moutain State Storm swimmers. Second photo is of Lang, third photo is of Shuttelworth and bottom photo is of Councilman Don Burton.