03/03/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 3/3/2004 and a state champion team on several occasions. Currently there are 650 children enrolled in the NOSO program. Two years ago, the fields were decimated by the drought. At that point, NOSO embarked on a program to figure out how to improve the situation, how to get water to the fields and provide a better level of environment for all participants. Last fall, NOSO was contacted by Mr. Brad Friedel, a former Bay Village resident, a former starting goal keeper for the U. S. Men's National Team and the current goal keeper for Blackburn Rovers, an English premier team. Mr. Friedel approached NOSO about holding a soccer academy in North Olmsted. He was looking for an opportunity to have it someplace where there are multiple fields as well as local hotels to house the participants. He has reached an agreement with the Radisson Inn to house about 150 people for his week-long camp. He asked for the opportunity to donate his services to rehabilitate four of the fields so that he could take those fields up to the level and quality that he is used to playing on in the premier league. Unfortunately, if water cannot be applied to the fields, that donation would be pointless. Through dialogue with the Recreation Commission and Recreation Committee, a proposal was brought forth to put in a water line to the four fields that Mr. Friedel would rehabilitate. The challenge is that Mr. Friedel has a deadline of March 13 with the Radisson. NOSO would like to respectfully request that this process be expedited so that this soccer camp can be accommodated. It does pay dividends: abetter field for the kids to play on is provided and the NOSO Cup tournament has an improved environment to play. on. Councilman Nashar inquired if NOSO had made a commitment to gay for the water for the next three years, and Mr. Saunders said that was correct. Mr. Friedel has not committed beyond one year, but hopefully he will return if he enjoys his experience in North Olmsted. Councilman Dailey inquired if Mr. Friedel would not hold the soccer camp here if the watering system was not put in. Mr. Saunders said that was his understanding because there is quite an investment in rehabilitating the fields. The water would be needed to maintain the fields at that level. Councilman Gareau noted that the city is now going through the budget process for a budget of approximately $19 million. In the budget submitted to Council by the administration, the amount of money left over after meeting expenses was $3,00(1. There was no money in Recreation, no money in the General Fund, no money in any fund as proposed to do any type of improvement to the Barton/Bradley fields. Funding for this project is a problem. It seems like the city is moving in the direction of putting in the water lines at Barton/Bradley fields. But the money has to come from somewhere else. It's a matter of choices. The city ultimately is going to be held accountable to the people who are on the other end of the choice that is made. There is going to be somebody who is not going to get something that they anticipated because the city moved in the direction to provide for NOSO. He wants NOSO to understand that, when he asked questions, he did not have a problem with the proposal. His questions were always geared toward the costs, because it was always a question of whether or not we had the money to do it. It's a great idea. It is nice to have people who want to donate things to your community, but it's not always automatic that the city would be able to accept. In this case, the donation comes with a possible $40,000 bill. We are going to make some hard choices. There are two pieces of legislation which will be voted on tonight, and that will move the process toward where NOSO wants to be by March 7