>>Rameen Karbassioon: Coming up on City Spotlight, the focus is on Shelbyville.

We will visit with Jeff Johnson, the mayor of Shelbyville, Phil Manhart, natural resource specialist at Lake Shelbyville, and Freddie Fry of Shelby County Tourism.

We will talk about the west end business district, improvements to downtown Shelbyville, and the latest on the Chautauqua building.

City Spotlight starts now.

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>>> Rameen Karbassioon: I'd like to thank Jeff Johnson, the mayor of Shelbyville, and Phil Manhart, natural resource specialist at Lake Shelbyville, for coming on City Spotlight.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

>>Jeff Johnson: You're welcome, it's always a pleasure to come back to Eastern.

And I work with an intern and a lot of graduates from Eastern, and they're always great people.

And I appreciate the opportunity to come back.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Well, thank you again for coming back.

And Phil, your first time on the program.

>>Phil Manhart: Yeah, thanks for having me.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: I understand you're an EIU graduate yourself.

For those at home, this is your first time on City Spotlight, tell us just a little bit about yourself.

>>Phil Manhart: Sure, I grew up in Stewardson, Illinois, where I reside today.

I have four children.

I've worked for the Corps of Engineers for 15 years, and the last five years at Lake Shelbyville.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And just curious, what got you interested in that job?

Did you major in something that allowed you to...?

>>Phil Manhart: Yes, I got a degree here at EIU in recreation administration.

I've always enjoyed the outdoors, being outdoors, you know, on trails or just out on the water, whatever it might be.

And so, as a kid, growing up this was a field I always wanted to be in, and here I am.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Alright, excellent.

Look forward to hearing your comments about what you do at Lake Shelbyville.

Jeff, let's talk a little bit about some things that are going on in Shelbyville right now.

Let's start with economic development.

And I understand there's some plans for the west end business district.

I know you have Walmart, IHI Turbo, the airport's out there.

What other development do we have going on out there?

>>Jeff Johnson: We ended up, the City's been looking at a business district that would cover the west end of the city.

And a business district would give us a source of revenue to be able to do infrastructural improvements out there.

We end up, there'’’s been several people out there that's inquired about developments.

You know, some retail, some different office space, different things like that.

But without the infrastructure out there, it's just kind of fallen by the wayside.

So, we end up, we've done an eligibility study, and it does qualify as a business district.

And we're in the process of doing a plan, and hopefully within the next few months, we'll be voting on it and getting it started.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: That part of town, when you drive through Shelbyville, you see how things go, and then you're out of town.

How long have you been looking at making development or growing in that direction?

>>Jeff Johnson: We've been looking at it for several years because when you look out to the west, it's kind of a natural extension, because we already do have IHI Turbo and the airport out that way, and that there's people out there who want to develop their land.

And it's going to be, we already have some of the stores out there like Walmart and County Market, and a lot of existing business.

So, it's natural, we just want to try and help push it and promote it.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Is it just business, or is there residential possibilities out there?

>>Jeff Johnson: Right along the highway, it's going to be more commercial.

Once you get off the highway, and we have some people out there, and actually in some other parts of town that are talking about new subdivisions.

But yeah, along the business corridor there, we're going to try and keep that commercial.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And IHI Turbo, one of your major employers in town, I believe you mentioned maybe some expansion.

>>Jeff Johnson: Yeah, IHI Turbo, they have done some expansion, they've hired some people, and they're looking about a future expansion and a future addition onto the building.

And so, we're pretty excited because, you know, you look at IHI Turbo, you look at the other businesses, really I think we're kind of fortunate, we're blessed that a lot of our businesses are expanding.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Okay, now let's move into the downtown area.

I understand some improvements going on there.

You have some grants that are going to help you beautify downtown Shelbyville.

>>Jeff Johnson: Right, we end up with, got three grants, three projects that are going to be happening.

And you're going to see huge changes over the next few years.

The General Dacey Trail, which ties in with the core, it comes up Brewster Hill into the downtown area.

And we have a grant to extend it on in, around the courthouse and up North Morgan.

We have a grant to redo the street-scape, which is going to be in the downtown, right along Route 16 on Main Street.

And then, with Software Solutions' and Sta-Rite's expansion, we've got a grant to make improvements to South Morgan.

And what we'll be doing is we're going to be replacing sidewalks, we're going to be replacing the lighting.

We're going to maybe put some things.

We'd heard that there's places where, you know, the buildings, you know, if we can build off of our history, that we'll put some plaques describing things that have happened in Shelbyville, some of the history of the buildings.

Really, we've got a rich history with not only locally, but state and, obviously with Lincoln, national significant events.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And you talked about, I don't know if you mentioned the bike trail around the courthouse.

A lot of bike rails in and around Shelbyville, obviously probably in conjunction with the lake.

>>Jeff Johnson: Yeah, there really is.

and we ended up, there was a group of, Jerry Yockey and a group of citizens that several years ago, they had a vision.

They work with the Corps of Engineers, and work with the City, and work with a lot of different people.

And the bike trail around the lake is just fantastic.

You know, it's a great asset, it's a good, you know, amenity for people who want to live in town, and for people who come.

And you can go out there on those trails any time of the year.

And you know, in the fall with the changing colors, and the spring with the trees, and the plants, and the wildlife.

And it goes along the lakefront, it goes back into the woods.

With this grant, we're going to be bringing it into the downtown area, too.

So, we're just hoping to connect everything, and then expand.

You know, when you talk about the west side that, you know, we can see the day, too, where that bike trail would go from the downtown out to the west side of town, so.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Could be a glorious, beautiful looking bike ride there.

>>Jeff Johnson: Yeah, it really could be.

Already is.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Already is.

So, new look for Shelbyville probably in a couple years.

We'll see what it looks like.

Hopefully, it all goes through.

One last thing before we bring Phil into the conversation with Lake Shelbyville, I understand there was some roadwork on North Ninth Street that is near completion.

>>Jeff Johnson: Right, and actually, that's an example, too, of the Corps of Engineers that, with a grant and the corps' help, we were able to get a grant that upgrades the access to federal parks.

And we were able to go in there.

We'er just about done.

As a matter of fact, today they're putting some topsoil down and getting ready to seed over the next couple weeks.

And we were able to get a new concrete road that can accommodate the traffic better.

And we've got storm sewers, we've got sidewalks.

The bike path goes along there.

So, it's been a great improvement to the city.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Excellent.

Alright, Phil, let's bring you into the conversation.

And I'm just curious, what does a natural resource specialist at Lake Shelbyville do?

>>Phil Manhart: Sure, well, best describe what I do.

I deal a lot with our public relations or dealing with our partnerships, whether it's with the local cities or private groups.

But I also deal a lot with our news releases.

We have a really good volunteer base program at the lake, where we have people volunteer, and mow, and clean, and do things in our parks.

We also deal with our trails.

A lot of PR work.

So, every day's different.

As I came in this morning, as Jeff and I were talking on the way over here today, is that, you know, what I thought I was going to be doing, I didn't do at all this morning because we had several people come in the building and ask different questions and that.

But that'’’s what's exciting about my job, is that every day is different.

I get to work with a lot of different people, a lot of great people.

The partnerships that we have created, the lake with the local communities and a lot of private groups is really, makes what I do enjoyable.

But ultimately, you know, our job is to protect the resource, provide a recreational opportunity for the public, and create a family atmosphere and keep everybody safe at the same time.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: I was just going to ask, the relationship between the staff at Lake Shelbyville, the Corps of Engineers, working with the City of Shelbyville, talk about that relationship and working together, because a lot of events that the City holds take place at the lake.

>>Phil Manhart: Well, our partnership is really good.

And what drives that is communication.

You know, we have really good communication between the City and between us.

And so, we're able to accomplish a lot of things.

And what seems to really overlap a lot at our events.

A good example, that would be this past year, the Fourth of July festivities were moved back to the lake.

And that's a big draw.

This year, in my six years at the lake, I've not seen that many people at the Fourth of July fireworks, which is really good.

and it wasn't just local people.

There was, you know, we talked to people coming from Mattoon, Charleston, you know, Effingham, different places to see the fireworks on the lake again.

That's just one example.

We do the Balloon Fest every year that takes a lot of work behind the scenes and on the ground, and a partnership with the City and the corps to make sure that event goes off without a hitch.

There's private groups that are well involved in that event, as well.

The co-op and different folks like that, too.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And Jeff, I want to ask you the same question.

Having many city events planned throughout the year, you obviously have a backdrop such as Lake Shelbyville.

Working with the staff at Lake Shelbyville, what's that like working with them?

>>Jeff Johnson: It's fantastic.

And so many things couldn't have been done without the corps and with the local organizations.

You know, you're right that it was a huge crowd.

And you know, it was beautiful watching the fireworks because you had the crowd that was lining the basin there, you had the boats that were out there on the lake, and you had the reflection off the lake of the fireworks.

It was a great time, and you know, it was beautiful.

And it couldn't have been done without the Corps of Engineers.

And you know, all of the events that go on through the year.

Really, we're fortunate because, you know, the corps not only is great to work with, but people like Phil live in the area, they care about the community, and they're involved in organizations outside of the corps and the city.

And it's worked out great.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Excellent.

Phil, I want to ask you now about something that just took place for hte staff there at Lake Shelbyville.

You were awarded the 2014 National Resource Management Project of the Year.

That's a lot of words.

Just found out about that about a month ago.

Tell us a little bit about that award.

>>Phil Manhart: Well, amazingly enough, it's a pretty unique and honorable award.

There's about 500 projects in the country, 43 states.

And we were selected as the project of the year.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And that's a national award.

>>Phil Manhart: It's a national award.

The Corps of Engineers is a national organization or government agency.

And so, through a lot of the work that we did in 2014 is based upon why we got that award.

And really, what drove that award for us is our success in partnering.

And not just the partnering with our local cities, and we have Shelbyville, Sullivan, Windsor, Findlay, and Bethany.

Working with those communities helps us do our job, and do our job better.

We have a lot of private organizations, too, and different groups that we work with to receive that ward.

And every bit, we basically put together a package.

It's about a 25-page document.

And every bit of that package related back to the partnership that we had that drove that project, or was able to allow us to do that project.

Some of that was, we did a big trail project that year, in 2014, which involved building some new trail, working on some old trail.

We had some partners that we had never dealt with before.

At a local, Shelbyville, we had the National Park Service.

We had the AmeriCorps, which brought eight kids to our community.

We had a Student Conservation Association.

And we had Trails for Illinois.

So, those were some agencies that we deal with on a national level, but never locally at Lake Shelbyville.

And we got a lot of work done that year with those, just in trails.

We also have a big project at Woods Lake near Sullivan that's going on.

Same type of project.

And both the trail project and this Woods Lake project, we actually applied for and were granted about 30,000 dollars extra additional money to do these projects.

But overall, the partnerships that we possess, and that we show and we work with daily is what drives is what we do at the lake.

And really helps us with communicating, you know, just with us and the City.

Keeps everybody on the same page, and keeps us moving down the right path.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: You mentioned the Woods Lake project.

Any new things that are going on at the lake?

>>Phil Manhart: Sure, Woods Lake is a 30-acre lake near Sullivan, Illinois.

And a few years ago, it's over a period of time here project, but several years ago we de-watered the lake because there were some environmental concerns.

The fisheries weren't good, so we rebuilt habitat in the lake.

They filled the lake back up.

We've put a new boat ramp in, handicap parking area, and we're actually working with a group out of Sullivan called Ambucs.

They're a volunteer organization, and they're rebuilding an enormous handicap fishing pier on that lake currently.

It's almost complete, it's really cool.

That's one big thing going on up there.

Throughout our campgrounds, we're doing a lot of upgrades.

And a lot of our upgrades are driven from what we're seeing in trends.

What is the need for the public when they come.

And so, we're putting in a brand new dog park at Bo Wood Campground near Sullivan.

We did a lot of big sewer upgrade up at Bo Wood this past year.

We're upgrading our electric, the facilities that didn't have the upgrade to 50 amp.

Services, some sites didn't have electricity.

We've added three new restrooms/shower buildings.

A couple of our campgrounds will be open real soon.

So, there's a lot of things going on throughout the year that's been going on.

All benefit our public, and all benefit our visitors coming to Lake Shelbyville.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Thank you for a lot of great comments about some of the things going on.

I want to ask you, what'’’s your favorite part about your job?

>>Phil Manhart: Probably the partnerships, dealing with the partners and the local communities.

Getting to know them and being able to work together to complete the projects makes my job a lot easier.

But then, you know, also when dealing with partnerships, I think the day to day, every day's different.

I mentioned that earlier.

You know, it never gets stagnant.

You come in, and every day's going to be a little different.

You don't know exactly what you're going to get into.

We have, you know, I know basically what I need to get done, but also there's all kinds of hiccups along the way that happen.

And so, that makes it a lot, very enjoyable.

Also, the opportunity to be out on a beautiful lake in Central Illinois, and being outdoors, being able to get outdoors and enjoy that.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: That's quite a backdrop.

Last question for you, Phil.

I know I asked this question to Jeff last time he was on the program.

Your impression of the impact of Lake Shelbyville, not just on Shelbyville, but obviously the area that surrounds it, because it covers two counties.

>>Phil Manhart: Sure, yeah, Lake Shelbyville is located in Shelby and Moultrie County.

And we have visitors come from all over the state.

I think it's documented that visitors or campers will travel less than 200 miles away to camp.

And that's about three-quarters of all campers will do that.

But the economic impact is right around 88 million per year to the region, so that's going to be Shelby and Moultrie County, maybe even outside those counties, people getting fuel, groceries, whatever it might be.

And so, the impact is great.

And we like to be able to say that people come to Lake Shelbyville to hike, bike, fish, boat, camp, for watching the wildlife.

But they also utilize the facilities in those towns, the grocery stores, the restaurants, you know, whatever it might be to get their supplies, going in town to a local festival, things along those lines.

And so, utilize the trails, whatever it might be in the area.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Alright, thank you very much.

A couple questions left for Jeff here, as we wrap up the program on Shelbyville, here on City Spotlight.

We're going to talk with Freddie Fry, Shelby County Tourism director about the Chautauqua building and some other things going on.

How is that going from your perspective?

I know there's been some events and things over the summer that have been held at the Chautauqua building.

>>Jeff Johnson: Things have been going well.

We've ended up, we've had the Air Force band was there for a concert.

We've had several other bands that have come in for concerts.

We had a play that was in the Chautauqua building.

Every fourth Saturday, there's a vendor fair, and there's usually a band that plays there.

So, we're getting a lot of activities into the building, and that's what we want, is we want to be able to showcase it.

We end up, actually, as we speak there's more work being done.

The window's are being replaced.

We've had some workdays where a lot of volunteers have come out and helped get things cleaned up and painted, and replaced some windows.

And things are headed in the right direction.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Do you have a deadline or a timetable of any sorts that, maybe you're never going to stop working on the Chautauqua since it's such a grand, large structure, it's old.

Do you have deadlines for when you want things completed?

>>Jeff Johnson: We end up, we're going to keep working on it.

We're going to be making, looking at other things.

You know, because once we get done with the structure itself, we'll be looking at electrical improvements and looking at the flooring, and looking at different things we can do to utilize the building.

So, you know, it's just like anything else.

It's going to be an ongoing project.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Okay, we look forward to, Freddie you for those comments, and we look forward to hearing what Freddy has to say later in the program about the Chautauqua building.

My last question for you, Jeff, is you mentioned something in our interview, prior to our interview, townsfolk coming to city meetings and bringing up ideas.

Talk about that a little bit, and how that helps the city.

>>Jeff Johnson: One thing that, like what we were talking about, is that whenever people come up with ideas, and it's like Phil was talking about, that whenever you work together as a team, you can get so many things accomplished.

They come to the city council, and they say, you know, "We would like to see this in Shelbyville.

What can the City do to help?"

They really don't come to the City and say, "We want this done, now you need to do it."

And so, it's that partnership that makes Shelbyville and the people in the area as great as it is.

So, I'm really proud of everything that's been done.

I think you're going to see a lot more happen in the near future.

And it's all because of the people.

You know, the people in Shelbyville, the people in the organizations, and the people at the corps.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: A lot of things to look forward to, moving forward.

Shelbyville, Lake Shelbyville making improvements.

Definitely look forward to seeing what the end results are.

Obviously, some of them a few years away maybe, but look forward to hearing what happens there.

Jeff Johnson, the mayor of Shelbyville, Phil Manhart, natural resource specialist at Lake Shelbyville, thank you for coming on the program.

>>Jeff Johnson: Thank you.

>>Phil Manhart: Yeah, thank you very much.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And coming up next on City Spotlight, we'll talk with Freddie Fry, Shelby County tourism director, more about the Chautauqua building.

But first, let's take a look at some of the upcoming activities going on in Shelbyville.

[music playing] >>Rameen Karbassioon: And we're back here on City Spotlight.

We're in Shelbyville with the Chautauqua building behind us.

We have Freddie Fry from Shelby County Tourism back with us on City Spotlight.

Thank you for joining us, Freddie.

>>Freddie Fry: Thanks for having us.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And we just took a look on the upcoming events in Shelbyville.

I want to ask you about a couple of them that are coming up here.

Columbus Day weekend, I believe that Friday is October 9, Balloon Fest and Scarecrow Days Festival, two different events but the same weekend.

Can you kind of tell us a little bit about both, what happens there?

We'll start with the Balloon Fest.

>>Freddie Fry: Sure, on the Friday night, we'll kick off with balloons down at the Dam West Recreation Area.

We hope that it's the one place people will be able to see all the balloons take off at one time.

On Saturday, they do a flight, and then Saturday night there will be the balloon glow.

And hopefully, the weather's good.

We'll have a lot of boats come in and watch from the lake.

In conjunction with that, we have an annual Scarecrow Days.

And that's Chamber of Commerce and a host of volunteers that take care of that.

And those events take place more downtown, family events, things for the kids, games and other activities.

So, the two work really well together.

We tend to be evenings and early mornings, and then the rest of the day they have the scarecrow events to attend.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Two events, kind of in different locations in Shelbyville.

So, it gets everybody across, and it gets to experience not just the events, but Shelbyville, too.

>>Freddie Fry: Sure, sure.

It gets them into the businesses, and then they can also, you know, enjoy a meal here and maybe meet some locals.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Have you been on any of the balloon rides in the past?

>>Freddie Fry: Yes, I was lucky, the very first year we brought them down to Lake Shelbyville, I was lucky to be taken on a ride over the trees.

And it's very surreal.

You don't feel any sense of movement.

It's different than any other type of flying, so.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Beautiful flight.

I'd love to experience it, except I'm a little bit scared of heights, so I don't know how I'd do, but-- >>Freddie Fry: We'd love to have you over.

We'll get you in a balloon if you come over.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Sounds like a good time.

I'll have to get over my fear of heights.

>>Freddie Fry: Sure.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: One more event I want to go over with you.

I know this is in December, so obviously change of season.

The Festival of Lights, can you tell me a little bit about that, please?

>>Freddie Fry: Yeah, that will kick off the weekend before Thanksgiving.

It's an annual event.

And this park is completely lit up with all kinds of displays, from fishermen, to elves to, of course, Santa and reindeer.

But there's other activities that will take place.

There are carriage rides on some of the weekends.

Also, they're going to have a festival of trees, and then hopefully we'll do some other events.

Using, I hope, our beautiful Chautauqua.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And speaking of, we have this wonderful, old, grand structure behind us.

First time I checked it out back in the spring when we first had Shelbyville on City Spotlight, I was like, wow, in person it's just an amazing structure.

Obviously has some age on it.

I know we talked about some of the history with you the first time you were on back in the spring.

It's been hosting some vendor days, and the Chautauqua Days, I believe, were held.

We talked with Mayor Johnson earlier in the program about how things have gone.

How has the reception from Shelbyville and the surrounding area been to what's going on here at the Chautauqua?

>>Freddie Fry: I think they're very receptive.

Especially people of a certain age remember when it was really viable in entertainment, and so many events held here.

I think we have to reintroduce some of our younger citizens and area people to the possibilities.

It's a huge auditorium, so it gives us a venue for things that we just aren't able to do.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And if all goes well, that's a big, you know, if all goes well, renovations, and that obviously requires funding, which is a different issue.

But what could this place host down the road if all does go well?

>>Freddie Fry: Oh, pretty much anything.

We've already had requests for weddings and private events.

But we'd like to see entertainment return.

They've already done one play.

And it's large enough seating that we could host a pretty good size, and maybe, probably not going to have the funding for A entertainment.

But you know, if we could get to that B level entertainment, bring some concerts in, some entertainment, that'd be great.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Location is not bad here in Shelbyville.

Beautiful park, you're near the lake, so I don't know why somebody wouldn't want to come out and perform here.

>>Freddie Fry: And there's enough space on the interior, I think you could do small events.

We're not big enough to do a large sports show, but we could certainly do, you know, segment shows, like maybe a small golf show or, you know, a small say, walleye fishing or muskie fishing event.

It's huge inside, so.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Plenty to talk about with the Chautauqua now, and moving forward we'll have to talk with you about some of the other things in addition to the Chautauqua in the future.

Last question for you, Freddie, before we end this episode of City Spotlight.

Something you're looking forward to, whether it be one of these events we talked about or the Chautauqua, something you're looking forward to here as the fall approaches.

>>Freddie Fry: I'm pretty invested with the balloons.

And so, I have to say I'm really looking forward to that.

We're taking a little different tactic to it this year.

We lost our major sponsor, so we've had to get back on track.

And so, we're just really pleased that we're going to be bringing the balloons back this year.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: Well, thank you, Freddie Fry, Shelby County tourism director, for joining us again on City Spotlight.

>>Freddie Fry: Thanks.

>>Rameen Karbassioon: And that'll do it for this episode of City Spotlight.

We'll see you next time.

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