By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WILTON – Frank Donald, director of the town’s recreation department, told selectmen he had received a “bombshell” of a telephone call Tuesday.

“An issue snowballed around the travel basketball team” when David Gould, SAD 9 director of physical plant, told him the town’s team cannot practice nor hold games at Academy Hill School on Sundays due to the cost of heating the school. Even if the town agreed to pay for use of the gym on Sundays, Gould said he could not allow it. The team could, however, conduct activities on Saturdays, he said.

Arriving late to the selectmen’s meeting, Donald explained that he’d come from a meeting with other towns involved in the league and asked if the team would be willing to play Saturdays rather than Sundays. Although several said they could, other towns’ representatives said they practice on Saturdays or have other games on those days, which would mean they would either lose practice time or need to play two games in one day. The other option would be for Wilton’s team to play all its games on the road.

“That’s an issue in my book,” Donald said.

The games involve only five or six Sundays, he added, and he thought they could get by for the first couple of weeks while the issue gets resolved – the league begins in two weeks. The team is on the road anyway for one of them, he added.

Selectmen asked Town Manager Peter Nielsen to call the school district’s superintendent Wednesday and ask to be on next week’s school board agenda. If Nielsen and Donald are unable to work out an agreement with the school district before next Tuesday, most if not all of the selectmen will attend SAD 9’s school board meeting to address the issue.