Mending fences?

To the surprise of both village and school officials, a work crew has installed a gate and several new posts, presumably for a second gate, between the South Side High School campus and Fireman’s Field, adjacent to the school. The work on the gate at the main entrance to the field, which began on Dec. 30, was completed last weekend.

Last Wednesday, when the crew first arrived, a spokesman for the village said that Mayor Mary Bossart was unaware of the gate installation, as did Board of Education President Mark Masin.

Fire Department Chief Mark Murray said his department had received authorization from the village’s Purchasing Department for the work, and that the gates were being installed to prevent cars from parking on the grassy areas of Fireman’s Field —- a request Murray said he has made numerous times to school district officials but which have been ignored by them.

After the Herald dispatched a photographer to the high school on Dec. 30 while the crew was working, Murray left a telephone message at the Herald saying that the crew was repairing an existing fence that had been broken by people who had parked there. A village spokesman also said that the crew was doing repair work, and that he knew nothing about a plan to install gates. But the Herald photographer overheard the work crew, from Tony’s Fences, discussing whether a post they had dug was in the right position for the sliding gate, with a door and a lock, that has since been installed at the main entrance to Fireman's Field.

Parking at the field has become a contentious issue in recent talks among Bossart, Village Administrator Frank Quigley, school board President Mark Masin and Superintendent Dr. William Johnson. At the crux of the dispute is the fact that the village is seeking revenue from the school district, which school board Trustee Steve Kriss has said is “incomprehensible” to school officials because the district is a fellow taxing authority.

Explaining that it needs money for upkeep, the village has said it may turn Fireman’s Field into a municipal lot, requiring parking permits, in March. School district officials have said that if that happens, they may no longer assign security guards or clean or plow the field, and might eliminate access to it from the high school campus, which would force traffic onto Knollwood Road.

Murray said the fire department has repeatedly asked the village board to include the department in meetings with the school district regarding parking at the field, but instead he has been “completely left out of the loop.”

“We’re just trying to protect what’s ours,” Murray said, adding, “For us to use our own field, to drill at our own field, we have to ask the school district to use our own property. How ludicrous is that? We shouldn't have to ask the school for us to use our field.”

Murray also said that fire department representatives were “verbally abused by taxpayers of the school district” at a village board meeting last spring during which parking at Fireman's Field was discussed.

There is still parking available in the large area of the field, Murray said, explaining that the gates would be closed “only when we need to use the field and there's issues with the school district and us using our field.”

Of the current arrangement, Murray said, “We have to call the school district to ask them if we can use our field. They ask us to let them know when we're going to have a drill a year in advance. I can't tell you what we're going to be doing five minutes from now.”

Alex Costello contributed to this story. Comments about it? RVCeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.