 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.
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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