Edwardsville Township Supervisor Frank Miles and staff had a special time with volunteers, businesses and civic groups this past weekend at a Celebration Event at Robert C. Stille Edwardsville Township Community Park, located at 6368 Center Grove Road in Edwardsville.
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The weekend event was to celebrate recent awards and improvements at Township Park, Miles said.
“Edwardsville Township has been the gracious recipient of new amenities in the park and we want to recognize the contributions made to improve the park,” said Supervisor Miles at the event. “This was a day we wanted to recognize all the partners – businesses, individuals and civic groups who made contributions for park improvements.”
The event celebrated the installation of an all-season restroom facility, solar array, personal electronic device charger, and a dual personal electric vehicle charger, all made possible funding from the Metro East Park and Recreation District, Madison County, and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, with a toilet paper ribbon cutting.
“I want to thank the firms that made these projects possible – Henderson Associates Architects, Day & Night Solar, Edwardsville Electric, and Edwardsville Plumbing,” said Supervisor Miles. “Representatives from these firms are here with us today.”
The restroom facility, PEV charger, and personal electronic device charger are all powered by the 3.36kw solar panel system, which is capable of generating over 4,416kWhs of electricity annually. This system will offset 3.4 metric tons of CO2 annually – the equivalent CO2 produced by 3,222 pounds of coal burned or by a passenger car traveling 7,000 miles. The solar array will offset 80 percent of the annual power consumption at Township Park.
“To operate during the winter, you have a lot of power requirements with heaters and this is solar powered so the suns runs this for us,” Miles said. “The solar-powered restroom is essentially year round. We won’t be operating when snow is out here, but there are people out here literally year round and it will be available to them.”
The event also celebrated the completion of the Edwardsville Rotary Club’s Airplane Park Playground.
“With the support of their donors and members, the Edwardsville Rotary Club was able to replace the park’s first original playground, which provided residents with over twenty years of fun,” said Supervisor Miles.
The event concluded by highlighting the 2014 Governor’s Cup Award, which was awarded to the Boundless Playground Project at the 32nd Annual Governor’s Hometown Awards ceremony held at the Illinois State Library in Springfield. The Governor’s Cup Award recognizes the state’s top community volunteer effort.
“As you know, the Boundless Playground was a signature project of the Junior Service Club of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon who raised more than $382,000 from private donations, non-profit organizations, and county grants. They secured more than $63,800 in donated materials and services, and coordinated over six-hundred community volunteers over the four-year project,” said Supervisor Miles.
“The Governor’s Hometown Award emphasizes citizen involvement in community projects and is awarded to the unit of local government sponsoring the project’s application. The Cup and display has traveled throughout the community this year to thank those organizations who embody exactly what the award stands for – citizen involvement in community projects,” said Supervisor Miles. “Organizations that displayed the Cup include the City of Edwardsville, the Village of Glen Carbon, the Metro East Park and Recreation District, and First Clover Leaf Bank.”
“We wanted to highlight the Governor’s Hometown Award. It is the top volunteer award in the state and it is a big deal,” Miles said. “We wanted the Junior Service Club to be honored for their commitment and what they have done for us.” 
