Announcements
(notes provided by the crafty and courageous Barb Lintner).
There will be a Repack Tuesday, October 27 at 5:30 at the Eastern Illinois Foodbank.
Next week our Club Assembly will include a technical demonstration of the CU Sunrise website and information on accessing the archives.
Rob and Jen are looking for a third person to represent CU Sunrise at the CU Schools Foundation Spelling Bee fundraiser on November 7. Let Rob know if you are ready for an amazing experience and lots of good food and fun too.
Rob announced that he will soon have information on the Fruit Sale.
Mary attended the Bloomington-Normal Sunset Rotary Club and wanted us to know that they are live-streaming their meetings and you can make up. See their Facebook page for more information. Rod added that we should all be sure to Like our Facebook page.
Speaker
Mike De Lorenzo, Associate Chancellor at the University of Illinois has responsibility for Willard Airport in addition to others including athletics, public safety, parking, and governmental relations.
A Strategic Talk Force was formed about 18 months ago to study Willard uses and operations. This group studied issues such as the impact of free parking versus the current $5 fee and found it to be an insignificant reason for use by those in our area. Willard experiences some leakage to Indianapolis and Bloomington due partially by the cost per enplanement to those locations which is partially funded by local taxes.
Willard’s economic impact estimated at $102.8 million with 949 jobs, is great on a community that hosts a global university. Willard has a 77% of on time arrivals compared to a 74% national average for regional airports. Most delays, defined as anything over 16 minutes, were due to weather, maintenance, or late inbounds rather than operations.
In 1978 there were many airlines operating in the U.S. but consolidation has created a basic four, Delta, United, Southwest and American. At present there are no direct east flights at Willard; Chicago and Dallas are the prime destinations. For the University Washington D.C. is a chief destination. A low-cost airline would be a nice addition for the community but at present Allegiant is not interested in regional service. The top twelve local businesses were surveyed and most of their air travel originates at either the Chicago or Indianapolis airports.
Task Force results include the following improvements:
Create a new logo.
Change the management structure. A new manager has been hired.
Create a community advisory board. The new board has been formed from the task force.
Automate parking.
Improve taxi service at the airport. Taxis in the past would not take credit cards.
Build a rental care facility.
Work with the village of Savoy to protect airport approaches.
Enhance revenue at the airport with the addition of other facilities such as tech parks.
Build a new tower. Approved FAA funds are currently frozen.
Build a new larger hangar for overnight. The 50 seat Envoy will be discontinued and replaced with a larger plane seating 75.
The good news is that currently the numbers using Willard Airport are increasing. To see the new logo go to www.flycmi.com
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| Oct 29th | Nov 5th | Nov 12th | Nov 19th | |
| Introductions | Harold Adams | Laura Auteberry | Oktay Baran | Keith Brandau |
| Invocation | Mary Hodson | Phillip Holthaus | Larry Johnson | Andrew Kerins |
| Greeters | Harold Adams | Laura Auteberry | Oktay Baran | Keith Brandau |
| Ata Durukan | Diana Dummitt | Bruce Hatfield | Darrell Hoemann | |
| Song Leader | Neal Chamberlain | Paul Conforti | Molly Delaney | Ata Durukan |
| Notetaker | Chamberlain | Perry | Penwell | Hodson |
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
October 29th – Club Assembly
November 5th – Brenda Koenig, Director of the C-U Folk & Roots Festival
November 12th – Guy Fraker, attorney and Lincoln scholar
November 19th – TBD
November 26th – Thanksgiving, no meeting
December 3rd – TBD
December 10th – TBD
December 17th – TBD
December 24th – Christmas Eve, no meeting
December 31st – New Year’s Eve, no meeting
January 7th – TBD
Feb 5 – Dr. Matthew Winters, Associate Professor of Political Science, UIUC, will present What Works in International Development: The Latest Evidence
