City agrees to work with Field of Dreams on water use

By Editor | August 22, 2012 |

A Vandalia City Council committee has agreed to work with the Field of Dreams Committee in a way that will allow the volunteer committee to continue its work at Vandalia Community High School ballfields.
Field of Dreams Committee members met with the city’s water and sewer committee on Monday, saying that they didn’t know that they were going to be receiving bills for water used for the irrigation system at the VCHS baseball field.
“We started getting a bill a couple of months ago,” John Ashdown, an FOD spokeman, told the water and sewer committee members.
“No one contacted us … told us a bill was coming,” Ashdown said, telling committee members that FOD is a non-profit group.
“We can’t afford to pay it,” Ashdown said.
Ashdown’s comments sparked a dispute, with Vandalia Park District President Mark Miller saying that FOD was told that it would be billed for its water usage.
Tom Lucken of FOD said they knew that the park district was going to be billed, and that a park district official told one of their representatives that “it wouldn’t be a problem” for FOD.
At its April 16 meeting, the city council approved a water services agreement with the Vandalia Park District.
That agreement called for the city not to charge the park district for water used to fill the Vandalia Municipal Swimming Pool at the beginning of the season. That amount was estimated at 193,000 gallons.
For water used for the remainder of the swimming season, the city would bill the park district at half the usual charge.
The agreement further called for water used for Field of Dreams ball fields to be charged at the normal rate and billed monthly, and all water used throughout the park system through separate meters to be billed in the fall for actual usage.
Rich Well, Vandalia’s superintendent of schools, told water and sewer committee members that the FOD Committee “have invested a lot of money” in the ball fields.
“We are trying to find a solution and move forward,” Well said.
City officials said they are willing to work with the FOD Committee.
“I think we could help them out,” said Alderman B. John Clark, another member of the water and sewer committee.
Alderman Russ Stunkel agreed, saying that the FOD Committee’s work has benefited the city.
“They bring a lot of people to town,” Stunkel said, referring to tournaments held on the Field of Dreams fields, now regarded as being among the best in the region.
The committee agreed with Beesley’s recommendation of the city “eliminating that bill and starting over” with FOD.
Gottman said he supported that decision, based on several factors, including the number of volunteers participating in Field of Dreams, the revenue created through local tournaments and the benefits of local youth through the use of the ball fields.