Officials weigh loans for PONY softball event

The softball tournament will include 320 teams in three age groups.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are taking a cautious tone on two $50,000 loan requests from a softball tournament organizer.
At their planning meeting Tuesday, commissioners said they would need more time to study the loans before deciding whether to approve them. Commissioner Paul Heltzel said the matter would not make it into the agenda for today's commissioners meeting.
Alan Knapp, director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, had said last week he hoped the commissioners would approve the loan requests this week.
Application
David Anderson, general manager of the Thunderplex, an indoor and outdoor softball complex in Vienna, applied for a $50,000 loan through the county's Revolving Loan Fund to help him with the costs associated with this year's PONY Girls Fastpitch Softball National Championships.
Another $50,000 loan would involve $25,000 from the county and $25,000 from seven local banks.
Anderson said Tuesday the one-week tournament, which begins July 21, is 90 days away, so timing on the loans is important, but there is no strict deadline for commissioners to approve them.
Anderson said his track record should reduce the commissioners' apprehension about approving these loans.
Anderson said he repaid a $300,000 loan from the county in 1998 that he took out to finance his Internet service provider company, The OnRamp Group.
Second, the loans are for a short term. "This one is basically four months," he said, noting that the repayment date is Aug. 18.
Third, he says the collateral his brother and father are offering will ensure that the county is protected. And fourth, the tournament is expected to have an $18 million to $20 million impact on the county, he said.
Anderson said the main reason for needing the loans is to provide cash to buy the materials and supplies needed to run the tournament, which is expanding this year from 120 teams in one age group to 320 teams in three age groups.
The tournament is expected to use eight baseball complexes -- six in Trumbull County and two in Mahoning County -- to play 1,500 games on 39 fields. Anderson said the PONY organization has committed to holding the tournament here through 2008.