CCAC Spending
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
I admit I am not happy with the city’s decision to reduce the amount of money given to the CCAC. The City-County Athletic Complex is basically my second home, and I really do enjoy going out there for many activities. Before you ask, yes, that does include Adult Slowpitch Softball.
My biggest problem with this is I am afraid that without that extra money received from the city, the CCAC will now have to raise prices on their already very expensive league fees or registration cost. The amount of money to play out there is getting to the point that the park is seeing a decrease in teams and soon only the wealthy people of this city or county are going to be the only people utilizing the CCAC. If the CCAC can not afford to have a full-time staff, I also fear that the park will become a bunch of empty fields that will never be used to their full capability.
I understand that the CCAC is a private, not-for-profit park. That is not owned by any one certain person, but it belongs to the whole city of Warsaw. So the real question is, how does the CCAC benefit Warsaw in such a way to justify the amount of money the city gives to the CCAC? How does the CCAC attract money to the city of Warsaw?
This is how … with Karl Swihart as executive director, the CCAC has had an incredible increase in tournament participation on the weekends. The extreme popularity of “travel” sports teams has been capitalized on by Karl and the staff at the CCAC. Such huge sporting tournaments were never heard of here in Warsaw, until Karl Swihart was put in charge at the CCAC. I have seen that park bring in over 70 baseball teams, which means that is about 14 players team, and another three people in spectators, per player, at least. That is thousands of people coming into Warsaw, and spending money that is coming from outside the county, in one weekend!
Do you ever notice that all the hotels seem to be booked at capacity on the weekends? Did you ever wonder what was going on, or how that was happening? You can thank the City-County Athletic Complex for that.
I think the main focus of the CCAC has been softball and baseball, but I think that is because that is the programs or tournaments that bring in the most profit for the CCAC in order to keep improving the park and sustain itself. From what I’ve been told, the CCAC does not make money from their local sports leagues like: Men/Women/Coed Softball, Adult Soccer, Youth Soccer, just enough to sustain their league and keep it going.
More than anything, I think the CCAC needs more funding from the city and the county. In order to efficiently run such a large park, the CCAC desperately needs more staffing, or hire people more qualified for the job, which means increasing payroll in order to pay those qualified people better. That park is a money maker for the city and county and should be used to its full potential. I’d suggest having a part-time staff in place for tournaments only (non-local), and having a full-time staff focused on the weekdays (local league).
While the CCAC should have full support from the city, I recommend hiring better qualified candidates for the job. I feel like the CCAC is being kind of “pieced together” and ran in an unprofessional manner. I agree that there has been some foolish spending at the CCAC, but maybe it’s because it’s time to restructure, starting from the top. I can’t believe the CCAC Board of Directors haven’t seen this and haven’t acted sooner! The City-County Athletic Complex has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the early ’90s, but there is still a lot of room for growth and improvement.
The CCAC is one of the few places that can be enjoyed by anyone at any age. The CCAC allows people to get outside and get a little exercise while meeting new people and reuniting with old friends. There is no negatives about this park, only positives. So I wonder why the city wants to take money away from the CCAC? The fact that the CCAC doesn’t receive enough money to run efficiently is why Karl has instituted things like his Pro Shop, but I agree with Trenton, better planning and more effort needs to be put into private funding in order to make improvements to the park.
All I ask is for the city to look further into their decision about the City-County Athletic Complex. Is it time that we make it a public park? Is it time to actually sell the CCAC to a private owner so that the city no longer has to give funding to the park? I’m just not confident in decreasing the funding given to the CCAC is the best answer.
Whitt Huffer
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
I admit I am not happy with the city’s decision to reduce the amount of money given to the CCAC. The City-County Athletic Complex is basically my second home, and I really do enjoy going out there for many activities. Before you ask, yes, that does include Adult Slowpitch Softball.
My biggest problem with this is I am afraid that without that extra money received from the city, the CCAC will now have to raise prices on their already very expensive league fees or registration cost. The amount of money to play out there is getting to the point that the park is seeing a decrease in teams and soon only the wealthy people of this city or county are going to be the only people utilizing the CCAC. If the CCAC can not afford to have a full-time staff, I also fear that the park will become a bunch of empty fields that will never be used to their full capability.
I understand that the CCAC is a private, not-for-profit park. That is not owned by any one certain person, but it belongs to the whole city of Warsaw. So the real question is, how does the CCAC benefit Warsaw in such a way to justify the amount of money the city gives to the CCAC? How does the CCAC attract money to the city of Warsaw?
This is how … with Karl Swihart as executive director, the CCAC has had an incredible increase in tournament participation on the weekends. The extreme popularity of “travel” sports teams has been capitalized on by Karl and the staff at the CCAC. Such huge sporting tournaments were never heard of here in Warsaw, until Karl Swihart was put in charge at the CCAC. I have seen that park bring in over 70 baseball teams, which means that is about 14 players team, and another three people in spectators, per player, at least. That is thousands of people coming into Warsaw, and spending money that is coming from outside the county, in one weekend!
Do you ever notice that all the hotels seem to be booked at capacity on the weekends? Did you ever wonder what was going on, or how that was happening? You can thank the City-County Athletic Complex for that.
I think the main focus of the CCAC has been softball and baseball, but I think that is because that is the programs or tournaments that bring in the most profit for the CCAC in order to keep improving the park and sustain itself. From what I’ve been told, the CCAC does not make money from their local sports leagues like: Men/Women/Coed Softball, Adult Soccer, Youth Soccer, just enough to sustain their league and keep it going.
More than anything, I think the CCAC needs more funding from the city and the county. In order to efficiently run such a large park, the CCAC desperately needs more staffing, or hire people more qualified for the job, which means increasing payroll in order to pay those qualified people better. That park is a money maker for the city and county and should be used to its full potential. I’d suggest having a part-time staff in place for tournaments only (non-local), and having a full-time staff focused on the weekdays (local league).
While the CCAC should have full support from the city, I recommend hiring better qualified candidates for the job. I feel like the CCAC is being kind of “pieced together” and ran in an unprofessional manner. I agree that there has been some foolish spending at the CCAC, but maybe it’s because it’s time to restructure, starting from the top. I can’t believe the CCAC Board of Directors haven’t seen this and haven’t acted sooner! The City-County Athletic Complex has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the early ’90s, but there is still a lot of room for growth and improvement.
The CCAC is one of the few places that can be enjoyed by anyone at any age. The CCAC allows people to get outside and get a little exercise while meeting new people and reuniting with old friends. There is no negatives about this park, only positives. So I wonder why the city wants to take money away from the CCAC? The fact that the CCAC doesn’t receive enough money to run efficiently is why Karl has instituted things like his Pro Shop, but I agree with Trenton, better planning and more effort needs to be put into private funding in order to make improvements to the park.
All I ask is for the city to look further into their decision about the City-County Athletic Complex. Is it time that we make it a public park? Is it time to actually sell the CCAC to a private owner so that the city no longer has to give funding to the park? I’m just not confident in decreasing the funding given to the CCAC is the best answer.
Whitt Huffer
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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