A new scoreboard at Sunnyside Park should be ready to go in-time for Tuesday night’s baseball game at Trevor Frederickson Memorial Field. Atlantic Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring said Brown Electric is slated to hook up the power Tuesday, and then it’s just a matter of programming the scoreboard in preparation for use.

3 Atlantic Park and Rec employees finishing the scoreboard installation. Thanks to Bill Welter, CEO of Concept Builders, for donating his time and
machinery to install the scoreboard and to the Cass County Community Foundation for
their grant to purchase the scoreboard. (Roger Herring photo)

Herring said the new board is wireless, which means the umpires can keep track of the score, pitch count and other facets of a ball game with a hand-held device. Before, the process was cumbersome and sometimes not very accurate. Herring said the old scoreboard was removed and the new one installed Monday.

He said the new score board made possible through a $6,000 grant from the Cass County Community Foundation. The Frederickson Foundation also contributed a tremendous amount of volunteer labor for work on the bleachers, landscaping and fencing, to make the field attractive and functional. The scoreboard will feature the name “Trevor Frederickson Memorial Field, ” and “Sunnyside Park,” since the park is City property.

In other business, Herring said there won’t be a Vision Iowa Grant this year to help with improvements at the Schildberg Recreation Area. That’s because Herring and SWIPCO’s Courtney Harter couldn’t get the application submitted by the July 15th deadline, due to some missing information. That includes a monetary commitment made by the Cass County Board of Supervisors when the area was created years ago, and a Resolution from the City, as to what it’s commitment would be.

In fact, the Cass County Board of Supervisors contributed $20,000 toward the project, because part of the Schildberg land is county property. Herring said the thoroughness of the information they needed to submit was no where near what was submitted when the City first applied for a $100,000 Vision Iowa grant in about 2004. The City received the funds, but was forced to repay the entire amount in 2009, when it failed to meet the requirement of the grant and a fifth request for an extension to complete the project, was denied. Herring said that probably left a bitter taste with the Vision Iowa Board, and was one of the other reasons they decided not to try for a grant this year.

He said all is not lost, however. There are other sources for funds that can be applied for until a more thorough application can be submitted by June of 2015. That includes a REAP grant (Resource Enhancement and Protection) from the DNR, Funds from the IA DOT and by requesting more funds from the Schildberg Foundation.