The Carbondale Park District needs to raise around $300,000 to finish the Super Splash Park Outdoor Aquatic Center.
District executive director Kathy Renfro says she will request the park board allow her to issue a line of credit from a local bank and then secure the credit through a bond sale. She says they would also hold fundraisers to raise the money.
Renfro says raising the money is paramount because this project - a decade in the making - needs to get done in time for Memorial Day weekend.
"It does seem like we have support from the community to move forward. I would say the general consensus is that we're really too far in, we have to commit to finish and to open in the spring of 2016."
The park district hosted a special meeting Tuesday night to seek public input on how to raise the money. Executive director Kathy Renfro says they received some ideas worth pursuing.
"One being to seek some corporate support for stores that may be present in Carbondale, but maybe their corporate offices don't reside there. So, we're going to try to create a list there and see if we can go to the corporate level for some funding."
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources recently informed Renfro that it will honor all expenses for the Splash Park though March of this year. That covers $2.2 million of the $2.5 million dollar IDNR grant from 2011.
