The board of trustees cleared the last major hurdle in working out the details of an agreement between the village and the Friends of Doubleday during a special meeting Saturday afternoon.

A few minor changes must still be made in the memorandum of understanding which will govern the relationship, but Mayor Wendell Tripp said he expects the board will approve the document in the near future. The has board scheduled a special meeting to work on the document next Thursday.

The Friends of Doubleday are seeking the board's approval for a fundraising project based on the sale of personalized paving bricks which would be laid in an apron around the entrance to the grandstand. Money from the project would be used to pay for proposed renovations to the field and also establish an endowment fund for future capital expenses associated with the field.

And the first of those paving bricks may be placed at the field as early as this fall when Friends executive director Thom Lach hopes to have a groundbreaking ceremony.

"It's important to show progress. We need to work on getting that first batch of pavers in the ground," he said Monday afternoon.

The Friends first approached the board of trustees with the proposal in August 1999 and are now close to being given the green light to continue with the sale of pavers. The trustees approved the project initially, but last year asked the group to halt sales until a formal agreement between the two parties could be reached.

"I walked out of the meeting thinking it's close now. We're really excited," said Lach, who attended the meeting with his father and Friends president, Dr. Ralph Lach. They were accompanied by Friends board member John Rudy, a New York City attorney, who is also a summer resident of Cooperstown.

"We have finally gotten to the point that we can move forward with confidence," Lach said. Details remain to be worked out, but he said he could foresee no problems.

The not-for-profit group based in Ohio also is proposing a plan for renovations to the field as part of the plan. The renovations include the relocation of the bathroom, construction of two locker rooms with tunnels to the dugouts and the creation of a multipurpose room in former the bathroom space location.

Trustee David Sanford, however, balked at the changes to field and questioned whether the field needed renovation.

Tripp, who has often stated his opposition to the proposal, said much of the discussion centered around the proposed renovations.

According to Tripp, Sanford believed the village should not commit itself at this point to doing the renovations and wanted it left out of the agreement.

Tripp said he finally asked the board for a vote on the renovation phase of the proposal and trustees were in favor by a margin of 5 to 1 with Sanford casting the dissenting vote. A clear majority supported the renovation, Tripp said.

The board also confirmed its commitment to see that all pavers purchased are installed.

Lach said another big thing to come out of Saturday's meeting was the authorization for the mayor to sign the certificates which accompany each paver purchased.

Roughly 500 pavers have been sold to date and the Friend have not yet been able to give purchasers their certificates.

Lach said the group has been talking with public relations firms and once the agreement is finalized, he expects to move ahead with a broad appeal to people. They are also seeking large corporate sponsors to help underwrite a portion of the project.