OSKALOOSA — They agreed to use the new stadium — in a manner of speaking.

The Oskaloosa School Board unanimously approved a resolution regarding their involvement in the new stadium project Tuesday night. This vote came after a bit of contention about the wording of the resolution.

Board members were provided with a resolution regarding their involvement with the new stadium project. Basically, the resolution passed by the board leaves them open to the idea of letting Oskaloosa Schools students to participate in athletics and other activities at the athletic facilities currently under construction at the Lacey Recreation Complex. For now, the project could include primary and secondary stadiums. The primary facility would include a track around a field used mainly for football. The secondary stadium would be used mostly for soccer games.

However, not every board member agreed with the resolution’s wording.

Board President Don Patterson wanted to make an addition to the resolution which would essentially state that the school board wants the city of Oskaloosa to repair the sewer located beneath the current community stadium.

School Board member Susan Boxler wanted to make Patterson’s addition to the resolution a separate resolution because she felt it dealt with the old stadium while the original resolution dealt with the new one. Boxler also said she also wants to see the current stadium fixed.

“I’ll tell you right now, if this isn’t attached, I’m going to vote ‘no,’” said Patterson to Boxler.

Board member Anne Whitis also had issue with the original resolution, calling it “generic” for its lack of specific language referring to the new stadium project.

“In the meantime, next year, if there’s a new stadium out there and our stadium is still in disarray, we’re going to want our kids in the best facilities,” said Whitis.

Patterson’s addition to the resolution would include saying the Oskaloosa School Board would like to see the city of Oskaloosa fix the storm sewer beneath the current community stadium. According to Patterson, the city of Oskaloosa has a storm sewer tax balance of $261,000.

Patterson went on to say that storm sewer tax generates $240,000 annually.

“If they save their tax for a year and a half, they can pay cash rather than bond, which would do the taxpayers a favor,” he said.

Board members Lin Yoder and Laurie Palmer agreed, saying the school board should make it public that they want the city to do something about repairing the storm sewer beneath the current community stadium.

“It’s way overdue,” said Yoder.

Patterson also responded to what he said he’d been hearing about the safety of the current community stadium. He said any of the dangers related to the retaining walls of the stadium he’d heard about appeared to be unfounded.

“I took my level down there (to the community stadium) today and I walked around the entire stadium with my level and checked every 16 to 20 feet and the most I could find was about 10 percent,” said Patterson Tuesday night. “In my opinion, this field is perfectly repairable.”

Patterson said he has also looked up several other community projects including the old Oskaloosa library project in the 1990s, the proposed moving of Edmundson Pool to the Lacey Recreation Complex in 2003 and the 2005 airport moving issue. He said that in all three cases, the people of Oskaloosa voted to maintain the old facilities and keep them where they were ordinally at.

“When we’re talking about this stadium, we need to take that into consideration,” said Patterson. “It’s obvious to me Oskaloosa likes its old things.”

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Herald City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at news2@oskyherald.com