Stonington - The Board of Finance postponed a decision Tuesday about whether to recommend to selectmen that the town send a $2.7 million proposal to upgrade the town's athletic fields to an Oct. 17 referendum.

Board members agreed that they first want to have town and school officials sign a memorandum of understanding about who will be responsible for maintaining and scheduling the new fields. Currently the school, town and human services department split responsibility depending on the field and time of the year.

"I think this should be in place before we vote to send it on," board member Dudley Wheeler said after a motion had been made to recommend the Board of Selectmen send the issue to a vote.

The board has told both town and school officials that it wants the memorandum in place to ensure that if taxpayers spend the money to fix the fields, they are then properly maintained.

In addition to being overused, one of the problems with the current fields is that they have not been properly maintained over the years.

While the two sides have completed a draft of the document, Interim Superintendent of Schools Paul Smotas said Tuesday he has numerous questions and changes he wants addressed before he can sign the document.

Town and school officials will spend the next two days addressing those concerns. The finance board plans to meet Thursday night to review the signed documents and then send it to selectmen for a vote.

Also on Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to recommend to selectmen that it send a $3.5 million proposal to repair 49 town roads to the Oct. 17 referendum. The roads and athletic fields will be voted on as separate items.

The Athletic Fields Task Force has recommended installing artificial turf on the football field, making repairs to the existing grass fields and making other improvements to the athletic complex.

If voters approve the plan, the artificial turf field could be installed by next August and the grass field improvements done by next fall.

j.wojtas@theday.com