In one of the most-contentious issues during the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative District Meeting in March, voters overturned a previous decision to remove the high school tennis courts, instead allocating funds for their repair.

In a discussion that took the majority of the meeting, residents debated a warrant proposal to spend $75,000 to repair the district’s tennis courts. A portion of the funding would go toward subsurface repairs, resetting the tennis posts, cleaning out and filling 825 feet of cracks that average between one and two feet deep and resurfacing and painting the court. It would also pay to reinstall 10-foot fencing, trim trees around the courts and install drains around the court to reduce standing water.

One of the reasons the measure was so controversial, was that the year before, the district approved a budget which included $20,000 in funds to remove the courts.

“We all voted $20,000 last year to remove the tennis courts. Why weren’t they removed?” asked Mary Golding of Wilton.

After the approval of the 2022 budget, including the funds for removing the courts, the School Board was approached by members of the public who were concerned about the decision. The residents requested a warrant article to address solely that issue, rather than having it folded in the budget. The board agreed to include a warrant article for the repairs, with the understanding that if it failed, the removal of the courts would move ahead using the previously approved funding, but that decision was also contentious.

At the end of 2022, the school board ultimately agreed to put the matter before the voters, but it was not a unanimous decision. The vote passed 5-3, with Charlie Post, Dennis Golding and Jonathan Vanderhoof voting against, and Chair Jim Kofalt abstaining, as he traditionally does except in cases of a tie. At the time, Post said the board had already had robust discussions around the viability of the courts, and the amount of funds that needed to be put into them to support what, at the time, was a program consisting of only three students who were playing tennis.

Residents who were for the warrant argued that the option to repair the courts for $75,000 hadn’t been presented in 2022 – only a choice between $20,000 to remove them and a far-more-costly full rebuilding of the courts.

“These sports do make a difference for the children in our community,” said former WLC tennis coach Fran Bujak of Lyndeborough, after telling a story of child who was getting into trouble before finding passion in the sport.

While the discussion on whether to repair or remove the courts took the majority of the meeting, when it came to a vote, it was decisively in favor of the repair, with a 47-15 hand count vote.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaari.