WATERLOO -- The Black Hawk County Gaming Association board pledged $590,000 toward improvements at Riverfront Stadium over the next year.

The board voted unanimously with one abstention Monday evening to contribute to a locker room improvement plan with four payments through next year.

Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley called the city-owned stadium a "tarnished gem" after June flooding this year damaged the locker room facilities.

Hurley and Paul Huting, Waterloo Leisure Services Director, said the project would be a "building within a building" and assured the board that their investment won't be washed away in another flood.

Wiring will be installed through the ceiling and other designs will prevent total loss from flooding, he added.

"It will be flexible and it will be something we won't have to tear out," Huting said.

The money will be disbursed over four fiscal quarters. The board distributes 5.75 percent of the Isle Casino and Hotel at Waterloo adjusted gross receipts to capital projects, nonprofit organizations and charities.

The board approved $100,000 to the stadium project this quarter, $100,000 in the third fiscal quarter, $200,000 for the final quarter of fiscal year 2009 and $90,000 for the first fiscal quarter of 2010.

Work on the project will begin in January and be completed at the end of next year, Huting said.

"We will in all likelihood start the season without a locker room which isn't all that terrible because teams refuse to go in them right now," Hurley said.

Board members discussed funding a city-owned facility, but noted that the University of Northern Iowa baseball team uses the ballpark and the Northwoods League Waterloo Bucks draw people from the region.

"It's an asset to the entire Cedar Valley," Hurley said.

The $590,000 pledge is in addition to $190,000 the BHCGA gave toward field improvements at the ballpark. Flooding changed the city's priorities, Hurley said.

In addition to $100,000 toward the stadium, the board approved more than $263,000 to other area grant proposals this quarter.

The board approved $50,000 for the city of Cedar Falls to build a water main in the North Cedar area.

Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews said the project would make cleaner water more affordable to about 100 homes in the area. He said those homes draw water from wells that, according to the Black Hawk County Health Department, were contaminated by flooding.

The city applied for $100,000 in grants to help build a $1 million water main that residents can connect to for water service. Residents would have had to split the cost of constructing the main in addition to paying to hook up to the main.

Under the proposal, residents would still have to pay for the connection to the main but wouldn't have to pay for the main pipeline.

Some board members were reluctant to fund what they said was a municipal infrastructure project.

"Is this the Black Hawk County Gaming Association's responsibility or is it the city's responsibility?" said Don Hoth, BHCGA board president. "I think it's the city's responsibility."

The board voted against providing $100,000 but in a second vote approved $50,000 on the condition that at least half of the residents in the area agree to connect to the proposed water main.

Crews said about $60,000 had been raised before Monday. Much of it came from civic groups and other donors, including the Living Water Church of the Nazarene, which raised $5,000.

Other grants approved by the board include:

? $50,000 for the Cedar Bend Humane Society reconstruction project.

? $25,000 for a boat for Waterloo Fire and Rescue.

? $50,000 to Alta Vista for construction of a fire station.

? $4,000 each to Hudson and Evansdale Police Departments for digital video recording systems.

? $61,000 to Raymond Volunteer Fire Department for a rescue vehicle.

? $19,600 to the Reinbeck Park Board for the Elmwood Trail Project.

Contact John Molseed at (319) 291-1418 or john.molseed@wcfcourier.com