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THURSDAY AUGUST 11 2016 SINCE 1895 STAY CONNECTED OFPROGRESS.COM FACEBOOK.COM/OFPROGRESS TWITTER.COM/OFPROGRESSBND AN EDITION OF THE BELLEVILLE NEWS-DEMOCRAT BND INDEX Around Town2A Our Town 2A Opinion 4A Lifestyle 5A Business 6A Sports 1B News 2B Obituaries 2B News 3B Police Blotter4B BUSINESS The doors at Tim Hortons will open Friday 6A SPORTS O’Fallon football training camp opens 1B N ot only will McKendree Metro Rec Plex be a leader of its kind in the metro-east with two NHL-sized ice rinks, an aquatic center fit with a 10-lane champion- ship swimming pool and recreational pool, but it’s also using the latest in cutting edge technology with it’s implementation of Eco Chill by a Canadian company CIMCO. The project is still on schedule for its expected comple- tion in about four months. “It’s a heat reclamation system that allows us to reclaim the byproduct heat coming from the system used to keep the ice cool, and that is normally wasted, but with Eco Chill we can recycle that heat in other needed areas of the facility,” John Arbeiter, senior general manager, said. In other words, the left over heat that normally would dissipate into the air, will be re-routed to be used in areas such as the locker rooms to heat the water for showers, Kim Smallheer, general manager, said. “It’s very new tech- nology, and very green and eco-friendly,” Small- heer said. The effect of greeb- house gases on the envi- ronment coupled with current electric and gas rates are the motivating concerns for all ice rink owners and users these days who are seeking out less negative impacting technologies, Arbeiter said. One of the rinks will be a year-round ice rink for athletes and competitions, where as the second will be seasonal, and turned into an arena for events like trade shows, concerts, organization meetings or public speakers. “It can be used for con- certs, trade shows, con- ventions or any type of event needing 20,000 square feet of open space. We will have bleachers on either side with one side being retractable under- neath the top level seating area overlooking the space,” Arbeiter said. “We will be able to put over 3,000 people here for a concert venue to see an up and coming country star or an aging rocker who wants to hang on,” he said. The vanguard tech- nology incorporates a geothermal horizontal loop piping system under the adjacent running track, which will be con- nected to CIMCO’s Eco Chill system in a seperate mechanical room. “There’s more than 13 miles worth of this plastic, rubberish piping that gets laid, and before that they had to dig about three feet down for everything to fit in. Interestingly enough there’s enough piping that gets looped back and forth the whole length of the rink that one could line a 26.2 mile marathon route ROBYN L. KIRSCH [email protected] O’Fallon McKendree Metro Rec Plex general manager Kim Smallheer discusses the progression of the new sport complex at the corner of Hwy 50 and Scott-Troy Road. Eco Chill: O’Fallon’s McKendree Rec Plex goes green BY ROBYN L. KIRSCH [email protected] SEE REC PLEX, 3A O’Fallon’s park and rec- reation programs spend almost $3.6 million in an average year, employ 228 people in an average year, and attract over 128,000 visitors each year who spend an estimated $1.6 million because of their use of O’Fallon’s parks. That’s according to De- velopment Strategies’ eco- nomic impact study on the city park’s system. Bob Lewis, principal with the St. Louis-based firm, on Monday, presented the study’s finidings to the aldermanic Parks and Envi- ronment Committee. The study demonstrated the economic impact of O’Fallon Parks and Recre- ation department in the city, St. Clair County, and the state. Lewis said O’Fallon is one of the major cities of the region and within St. Clair County. In fact, na- tional measures of parks and recreation expenditures by local governments place O’Fallon well above aver- age, he said. “It is not difficult to ob- serve that the quality of life in O’Fallon and the eco- nomic progress that it and its residents have achieved are immensely supported by the many superior facil- ities and activities in O’Fal- lon’s park facilities and recreational programs,” Lewis said. But it is often difficult to quantify that full impact, he said. How, for instance, can the economic impact of biking, jogging, or roller- blading around the parks be measured?, Lewis said. “Such pursuits expose people to nature and exer- cise which, in turn, help with their physical and mental well-being, almost certainly making them more productive partici- O’Fallon parks generate over $4.7 million for local economy annually BY MARK HODAPP [email protected] SEE PARK, 3A It's the end of the line for pension benefits for O’Fallon City Council members. Members of the council last week deleted pensions from the list of benefits they receive and amended the city code to reflect the change. As of Aug. 1, council members no longer are eligible to participate in the Illinois Municipal Retire- ment Fund (IMRF). The final vote came after none of the 12 City Coun- cil members present de- clared that fulfilling the duties of their office does not require them to work at least 1,000 hours a year — the minimum to be pension-eligible. Ward 4 Alderman Matt Smallhear and Ward 7 Alderman David Cozad were absent from the meeting, which lasted only 19 minutes. The council’s latest decision impacts only Ward 5 Alderman Mike O’Fallon ends city council pension participation Herb Roach BY MARK HODAPP [email protected] SEE IMRF, 3A
