As soccer’s popularity rises, HF Soccer Club prepares for big fall season

Homewood-Flossmoor Park District staff got numerous positive comments from board members Tuesday for the time and effort they put in keeping the splash pad operating.

This past weekend, a power surge put a pump out of commission, according to Debbie Kopas, executive director for the district. Staff was out at 3 a.m. trying to find a needed part.

“People just don’t realize how dedicated our staff is. We know the hours they put in and we thank them,” she said. The wading area at Millennium Park has had an extraordinary number of breakdowns this season, including three burst pipes in three weeks. Crews worked through the night one Saturday into Sunday to get the water spouts in the wading pool operational.

Fingers are crossed that everything will work as expected for the remainder of the season. “It was whatever could go wrong did go wrong,” Doug Boehm, superintendent of parks, told trustees. The Splash Pad is 15 years old, but Boehm said a plumber and an electrician checked it out at the start of the season and believed it was in sound working condition.

Then one pipe burst. Then another, and another. Boehm said in the five years before that, only one pipe was replaced. Boehm said an assessment will be made to determine what repairs or replacements will be made in the off season.

In other business, the board got a report on work at the H-F Ice Arena. Shon Washington, ice arena manager, said this year staff has focused on basic maintenance on the compressors that make the ice. The place has also gotten a facelift with a new coat of paint and other touches to freshen up the facility.

In 2016, the ice arena will be closed for four weeks of maintenance. Washington said the double layer of ice will be removed and the rink will go through maintenance before new ice is laid.

The board has plans to add a screened-in area onto the building at Coyote Run but rejected the construction bids because they came in too high. Tom Denklau, manager at the golf course, said it’s not so much the design that’s the issue but the location for the structure at the back of the building. Crews would need to use cranes and likely would tear up the area around the building to get to the west side for construction. All that is added expense, he said.

The board also anticipates putting a new roof on the flat roof area at the Coyote Run clubhouse, but those bids also were rejected. The job will be rebid and staff hopes to have the repair done by winter.