Tuesday, November 16, 2010
 
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CITY BRIEFS -- Part 1

Lincoln Futbol and chamber updates

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[November 16, 2010]  Monday evening prior to getting down to voting issues, the Lincoln City Council heard from two organizations in Lincoln: Lincoln Futbol Club and the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce.

Futbol Club reports on progress of soccer complex

Dr. Dru Hauter addressed the council on behalf of the Lincoln Futbol Club, saying there has been much accomplished this year at the new Lincoln Soccer Complex.

The complex is located directly behind the Walmart Supercenter on a 27-acre plot belonging to the city of Lincoln. In the fall of 2009, Hauter brought a proposal to the city for a five-field complex large enough for the club to host regional and state soccer tournaments.

The city agreed to lease the ground to the club for a minimal amount but asked Hauter to give them annual reports on the progress and activities of the club as part of the lease agreement.

Hauter said Monday night that much of this year has been invested in leveling the ground, mapping out the locations of the fields and seeding with turf-like grasses that are preferable for playing fields.

He noted that the club has invested in 14 tons of fertilizer through FS and 2,750 pounds of grass seed.

He said some gravel has also been laid for the driveways and parking spaces. There has been one occasion when unknown individuals drove a vehicle out onto the fields, doing "doughnuts," so gates were put up to deter trespassers.

Items yet to be done are placing lights around one soccer field for night games and also building bleachers at that same field.

Also, the Morton Park District donated their used goals to the club, so they now have enough of those for all five fields.

The club was active this year with six teams and 97 members. They used fields provided by Lincoln College for their practices and games and participated in five tournaments.

The club plans to move into their new complex in March and will host their first games in April.

Hauter said that in addition to this, they plan to hold referee clinics, establish a Lincoln Futbol Academy and will offer the use of their fields to the Lincoln High School soccer team.

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The club will host its first big invitational tournament in September of 2011 on the same weekend as the Railsplitter Festival. The goal for that weekend is to bring a total of 30 teams from out of town along with their families, and it can be expected that many of those families will stay in Lincoln for the weekend.

Hauter also said there has been tremendous support of the club through its fundraisers, and due to that, all the club's bills are paid in full.

When Hauter finished, Alderwomen Marty Neitzel and Joni Tibbs along with Mayor Keith Snyder all said they were impressed with what the club has accomplished thus far and wish them all the best as they go forward into the next phases at the complex.

Hake address council with an update on chamber activities

Andi Hake, director of the Lincoln/Logan Chamber of Commerce, addressed the council with updates on what is going on right now at the chamber.

The chamber has joined a regional group called the Central Illinois Regional Chamber Legislative Effort, or CIRCLE. The regional group is based out of Peoria.

The group's main objective is to lobby legislators in Springfield on issues that affect their communities. Hake said she is distributing surveys now to local businesses as well as the various boards throughout the area, such as the city council. The surveys will help the CIRCLE group establish key areas of interest they want to discuss with legislators.

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Hake has also been invited by the mayor to join a second group that uses the same acronym. The Central Illinois Regional Collaborative Effort group, also known as CIRCLE, is a product of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council and is an effort to get all of central Illinois to work together for economic development.

The chamber is also partnering with the Healthy Communities Partnership, working specifically in that group's Education Task Force.

Chamber event coordinator Heidi Browne is a chair on the task force and Hake is a member of the same. The chamber and the task force are working together to address education, job skill training and mentoring programs in Logan County.

The task force currently has three programs they are running: Connections Counts teams at-risk students with adult mentors; JOBS, or Joint Opportunities for Building Skills, gives students on-the-job training and mentoring to assist them in developing work skills; and Miss School, Miss Out is a public awareness and education program designed to help deter truancy.

Talking about the 2010 Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival, Hake said she had provided the council with copies of financial reports for the event and that this year the festival had run in the black, which was very good news.

The chamber is already working on next year's festival plans and will be adding a new feature that Hake said she wasn't quite prepared to discuss yet. However, it will involve additional street closures in the downtown area.

For next year's event there will be free off-site parking and transportation to the airport to help with the congestion on glow nights. She said one location that is a strong possibility is the Lincoln Christian Church parking lot downtown.

On the agenda for the 2011 festival aftermath, there will be an economic impact study to measure the benefits of the festival to the local economy.

Finally, Hake said she intends to make a nomination to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for a Small Business of the Year Award to a local business. She said there are a lot of great businesses in Lincoln and Logan County and she hopes that one of them can be recognized.

Nominations for the award are due on Jan. 7, and she asked the council to offer her any of their suggestions as to who should be nominated. The winner will be awarded a $10,000 cash prize.

[By NILA SMITH]

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