Perkiomen Valley SD details stadium upgrades, card access and security camera plan

Administration told the Safety & Operations Committee it expects the concession-area work to be ready before June 7 and described several concurrent security and operations upgrades.

Joe Fabrizio, whose presentation led the facilities update, said crews were finishing tile and soffit work and that overhead concession doors and windows will be installed next; “They’re about a week and a half out for tile,” he said. He described coordinating boring to extend utilities to the field house and lower turf so cameras, card access and phones can be supported.

Fabrizio proposed timed card access for the concession stand and adjacent restrooms during events, with automatic locks outside posted hours and an override for emergency entry. Committee members asked who would control remote access; Fabrizio said staff with district ID badges and designated HR or operations leaders could remotely grant access.

On cameras, staff said the current proposal includes multiple exterior and interior cameras (Fabrizio said the estimate was nine cameras) to monitor entrances, cash transactions and dark spots. The group discussed repurposing some equipment that had been tied to a denied PCCD grant and noted the backbone network required for cameras would be installed with the boring project.

Ticket booths under consideration are modular, mobile units priced at about $5,100 for a single 5x5 unit; a quoted double booth reached roughly $65,000. Committee members discussed queuing, wiring and storage logistics.

The committee also discussed portable “Evolve” metal-detector tunnel systems that use AI to flag weapon-like shapes. Unidentified Speaker 1 explained that a dual lane setup can handle “about 4,000 people in an hour.” Staff emphasized the technology is not a panacea — vendors told the district the system flags metallic barrels and gun-like shapes but is not reliable for knives — and that portable units require staffing (two people per lane typically).

Funding remains unresolved. Administrators said they would pursue DCED and other grants but that typical safety grant funding ($35,000–$45,000) would not cover the larger capital cost of tunnel screening; the camera and card-access components will appear in the June board package for further consideration.