$5.7M contract awarded to turf and light Millburn High School's athletic fields

What happened

The board and Millburn Township jointly proposed converting two multi-purpose fields plus Miller Field at Millburn High School from grass to artificial turf and adding lighting, first presented in November 2025 at a preliminary cost of about $7.5 million. After a shared-services agreement with the Township, a $192,500 design contract, and public objections over environmental impact and the lack of a townwide referendum on the project, the board awarded the actual construction contract on July 20, 2026 to Thomas & Sons Builders LLC for $5,666,283 to convert the turf and add field lighting.

Why it matters to families

This is a multi-million-dollar capital project, run jointly with the Township, meant to fix a shortage of usable field time the original presentation put at a 16% shortfall in playable hours. It affects where and how often student athletes practice and play, is a shared town-and-school cost, and moved from proposal to a signed construction contract within the year despite public objections.

The evidence

The July 20, 2026 agenda item M.3.g states: "the lowest responsible bid for the Project was submitted by Thomas & Sons Builders LLC, with a base bid in the amount of $3,753,000...for a total contract sum of $5,666,283...the Board hereby awards the Natural to Synthetic Turf Conversion at Millburn High School Project to Thomas & Sons Builders LLC." The November 20, 2025 presentation gives the original field-by-field cost breakdown ($4,023,100 turfing, $3,436,700-$3,619,700 lighting); the February 25, 2026 minutes record a public speaker noting "the option of the Township to hold a referendum on the turf field similar to what was done in Westfield does not apply to Millburn."

The source