Members of the Atlantic Athletic Facilities’ Steering Committee were recognized Wednesday evening, during a meeting of the Atlantic School Board. Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber said “About a year ago we started a Steering Committee. We had a lot of conversations about a pre-existing plan that was put together a couple of years beforehand, and they’ve been on-board since that time.” Committee members Kip Harris, Nicholas Hunt, Bob Sweeney and Jennifer Saathoff, were presented with plaques by School Board President Josh McLaren.

Members of the Athletic Facilities Steering Committee pose with the Atlantic School Board (10/9) Ric Hanson photo

A bond issue for Athletic Facilities Improvement was passed by the voters on April 2nd. Barber said “A lot of work and effort took place from these four folks during that time period, in regards to not only making some decisions about what the current plans were, but getting a lot of stakeholders together and getting their opinion and feedback throughout that process…communicating with the [School] Board, meeting of their expectations and resolutions,” and he says they “Worked hard in communicating not only with a public hearing, but also with District Staff and getting the word out to the voters.”

Barber said “They went above and beyond. Spent many hours getting it to the finish line.” Currently, Little League is removing the Aglime from the baseball and softball fields, along with the batting cages. In fact, on Monday, Oct. 14th, the Rochon Corporation will be starting on the Baseball/Softball fields.

Next Summer, Atlantic’s home Softball games will be played at the Little League Complex (across from KJAN). Athletic Director Andy Mitchell is working with area schools to determine where our home Baseball games will be played. Griswold has offered to work the schedule out, CAM and Avoca are looking into it as well, according to Steve Barber. As for the Trojan Bowl, Brad Devore will be taking down the white fence, prior to the start of the project. A pre-construction meeting is set for Oct. 17th, where details will be further discussed and decisions made moving forward. Barber said that will be the official “Kick-off” to the construction season.

Work on the Trojan Bowl will begin once the last game is played on the football field.