'It just opens up so many avenues' - Community favors relocation

“It just opens up so many avenues," Elma School Board Chair Michael Smith said at the June 24 Elma School Board meeting. During the meeting, time was set aside for the Board to discuss reactions to the June 17 Community Facility Meeting.

At that meeting, Elma Superintendent Dr. Chris Nesmith announced to the community that Davis Field and the track will be relocated to the new athletic complex located to the north and west of Elma Elementary School. 

Bernadette Bower, one of the Board Directors, said, "I do think that what I have seen and what I have heard–that people are understanding why building up here [at the Elementary] is so much more feasible than building at Davis Field, even though we all have a special place for it. Davis Field is still there. I think the community is starting to understand more that it isn’t a need of ‘We want to move it.’ It’s a need to have to move it." 

Elma High School student-athletes took time out of their evenings to attend the Community Facility Meeting and shared their agreement in moving football and track & field near Elma Elementary. With the condition of the field and track at present, student-athletes admitted to injury concerns from surface damage and drainage issues stemming from repeated flooding.

Nesmith noted this plan gives our community flexibility to decide which components to prioritize but he believes having the new covered stands facing east is critical because we don't want our community to continue to have rain blowing in their faces. 

Smith said he was happy to see a real sense of unity in this community. 

“That speaks to a lot of people have been asking ‘How can I help? How can I do this? How can I in some capacity do something?' I think a lot of it is just sharing, as we get the pieces put together, that vision with other people... It’s been happening at multiple meetings, but getting the right people in the right place to talk about different options is going to be key. Putting it out here has opened that up because the two grants that we did apply for we couldn’t even apply for down at Davis Field, which is truly unfortunate. We are fortunate enough to have this piece of property in our possession that we can actually act on, which is one of the things that actually I believe the RCO said was probably one of the reasons why we were able to get [the grant] is because of the fact that we had the property, we have a need. We’re ready to go, we're shovel ready." 

Later, the Board passed resolution 8-25-26, which is related to Faith Lutheran Church here in Elma, as the church has proposed donating the church and surrounding property to Elma School District, though nothing is finalized yet. Resolution 8-25-26 indicates the Elma School Board is willing to accept the donation.

Nesmith said, "[Faith's] donation meeting--so we're not done--isn't until the end of July. I've got July 19th, shortly before our board meeting. From there, we need to go to a title transfer. So, there's a lot to be done."

Smith said, "I'm lost for words. Because there's so much gratitude. I hope that they [Faith] know how much we appreciate."

"Absolutely," echoed fellow Board Director Jaime Bailey.