UMPI pool

I find it interesting that the University of Maine at Presque Isle is so enthusiastic about building a field house with a pool. We already have one underutilized pool facility in Presque Isle and I question why we would need another. The city of Presque Isle is supporting this move; it would like to get rid of the high cost of maintenance of the city pool, I can’t understand why the cash strapped university would want to take it on. Could it be because Machias and most of the other campuses have one, and UMPI does not seem to have the same prestige without the same facilities?

Leaving aside the fact that there is no need for two pools in town, it seems to me that they should properly maintain the facilities they have before taking on any new high maintenance ventures. For example, the tennis courts at UMPI were built in the ’70s with a combination of money from the university and the city with a grant from the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.

The responsibility for maintenance of these courts was by contract of UMPI. They wanted this facility badly enough to make this agreement. When built, this was the best tennis facility north of Augusta. At this time, it is in shameful condition. Special rules have to be used for play when a ball hits one of the cracks in a match. A couple of years ago a friend and I purchased two nets and gave them to the university because the nets on the courts were so ragged they could not longer be repaired with duct tape. The windscreens are never up in time for the school tennis season because there are no maintenance people available to put them up. UMPI cannot afford an adequate backstop for their baseball diamond so they wrap the tennis windscreens around the fencing in place of one.

How can UMPI keep up a high maintenance facility such as they are proposing if they cannot manage to maintain a low tech facility like tennis courts. Their excuse for not resurfacing the tennis courts is that they don’t have the funding. How can one expect to pay for the upkeep of a multimillion dollar facility if they can’t afford to resurface tennis courts once every 30 years?

Terry Hamm-Morris

Blaine