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Renovations to Lowellville basketball courts move forward
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
LOWELLVILLE
What happens with the $25,000 Dom DeFrank won last year for the village could come down to Wednesday’s school board meeting.
That’s when the Lowellville Board of Education likely will either approve or deny the village’s request for $7,500 that would allow DeFrank’s original vision — renovations to the basketball courts at the 52 Rocket Place school complex — to come to fruition, said Mayor James Iudiciani Sr.
Finally.
“It’s been very frustrating,” said DeFrank, who won the money — the grand prize in Powerade’s “Rise With Rose” nationwide contest — last October. The 2014 Lowellville graduate submitted a photo of himself standing in his backyard, with a basketball in one hand and a bottle of Powerade in the other, to win the contest.
“I just want it to get done,” he added.
From the start, DeFrank knew he wanted the money, which was to be used for the renovations of a sports area or public park of his choosing, to go toward fixing up the very same basketball courts he’d loved as a kid. He also requested that they be dedicated to his late father, John A. DeFrank Jr., who died in 2007 at age 58.
The courts were supposed to be finished by now.
Over the summer, though, DeFrank and village officials learned that the donation wouldn’t be enough, and that the funding was short by at least $15,000. Another location for the courts — a wide-open area on River Road — was proposed. DeFrank wasn’t a fan of the change, despite its being less time-consuming and expensive.
A recent quote for the original project, albeit stripped down to its bare minimum, is $32,000, Iudiciani said. He noted that the village already has spent more than $5,100 on plans and specifications through MS Consultants of Youngstown — and that many of those can’t even be used, due to the project’s being stripped down.
“We want to use that grant where Dom DeFrank wanted us to use it,” Iudiciani said. “If the school doesn’t participate, we do have alternative projects that we are considering.”
The renovations now consist of re-asphalting the courts, then applying a three-coat sealing system. Striping the courts and installing a plaque to honor DeFrank’s father will take place, as well. Iudiciani said that falling temperatures may play a part in the project’s timing.
If all goes ahead as planned, it may be too cold to complete the process this year, and work may have to resume in the spring.
DeFrank said he just wonders why the village didn’t act sooner. The money was awarded in January.
“If I had the money, it would’ve been done in February,” DeFrank added. “You’re given that $25,000 for free. I want it, I worked for it, and I was hoping to see that they put that first. Why would you want to waste that $25,000?”
Jim Alfano, president of the Lowellville Board of Education, said he couldn’t answer whether the board would choose to furnish the extra $7,500. It “would have to be a board decision,” he explained.
Alfano acknowledged that the courts weren’t on the board’s “list of things to do,” but that “anything could always use a little bit of work.”
“[We’re aware] of the wishes of the recipient of the grant, and we’re trying every effort we can to make that happen,” Alfano said. “After Wednesday, we’ll have a lot clearer picture of what direction this project is headed.”
The Lowellville Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the high school library/media center.