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MAPS board OKs tennis courts bid

MARQUETTE — The Marquette Area Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a bid of $51,410 from Racquet Sports Inc., based in downstate Comstock Park, for tennis court repair and resurfacing.

MAPS Superintendent Bill Saunders said the Shiras Foundation has helped partially fund the tennis courts’ resurfacing. However, after putting the new project out for bids during fiscal year 2017-18, the district received no bids.

Later during the fiscal year, the district again solicited bids, and this time was successful.

About $15,000 — $5,000 annually over a three-year period — in Shiras funds will go toward the project, with the remainder coming from the district’s sinking fund, he said.

“They like to invest in projects that they’ve previously helped to support,” Saunders said.

The new project is expected to curb the potential of larger repairs.

“Part of this is just ongoing maintenance and upkeep,” Saunders said. “The longer we go, the bigger the cracks get. Next thing you know, we’re talking major concrete work instead of resurfacing work.”

More maintenance on the high school courts is expected for the future.

“At some point in time, like anything else, we’ll have to go down to more base to do that,” said John Kurkowski, MAPS director of auxiliary services. “We’re looking at not $51,000, but $300,000.

“Until you go down there and actually walk that property, you don’t realize how much real estate is there. There’s a lot of tennis court there.”

Kurkowski said of the companies that bid for the project, Racquet Sports is a specialist in tennis courts.

“This is what they do,” he said. “They are sort of more or less the experts in this, so we’re glad to know that the people that do this for a living actually came in as the low bid. It’s kind of reassuring.”

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