The Township Council has approved a memorandum of understanding and general agreement with the West Windsor Junior Football Club that sets forth the terms of the use of township fields and delegates responsibilities for maintaining them.
The memorandum is similar to the memorandum of understanding that Council approved last year with the WW-P Soccer Association.
The difference is that football is confined right now to just one park. The organization was at Conover Park, but since the township started working with soccer, it has moved over to Community Park, where there are two playing fields.
The general agreement lays out the parameters, with individual agreements for each of the parks that specifically list the football club’s responsibilities. In this case, council reviewed a draft of the five-year agreement for the club’s use of Community Park. The club operates the concession stands along with the lacrosse club at Community Park and maintains the interior of the building. The township maintains the exterior of the building. Everything else is very similar to the soccer agreement.
In the soccer agreement, the wording of the draft outlines a “termination fee,” or what happens in the event the township changes use of the fields, or the financial relationship between the two parties does not work out. The total amount of money the township would pay the soccer association if it were ever to do so varies based on factors set forth in the agreement. The reason for this is that the soccer association invests money into the facilities and fields on the township’s parks and wants to guarantee that once large sums of money were expended, it would continue to be able to use the fields.
The memorandum also sets responsibilities for both parties when it comes to their respective field maintenance duties. The termination fee language, as well as the 30-year and five-year time periods and maintenance language, are all the same when it comes to the draft of the agreement with the football club, which also spends its money for upkeep of the fields.
