After a raucous, nearly two-hour meeting with calls for the Peotone Park District to be dissolved, the board tabled more items than it passed, and there’s still no long-term resolution on the district’s hottest topic: control and maintenance of the ball fields.
Several residents, members of PBSA, and school board members attended the meeting, filling the room that, most months, is empty during board meetings. Audience members interrupted to interject comments, engaged in side conversations that interrupted the meeting and, at times, erupted in a full-blown commotion with everyone in the room speaking at once as the board struggled to maintain order.
Fix it Fast: Ball Field Band-Aid
One of the two items not tabled was a quick fix to make the fields playable, especially with time running out.
“Obviously, this is happening quickly, because we want to make sure it’s done for the 28th of July. That’s my goal. I want to make sure there’re kids out there, those boys and girls are out there playing that junior high season on these fields. That’s the here and now,” Park Supervisor Kelly LaMore said.
The ball field issue has been a point of discussion at the park board meetings since at least the February meeting, when the PBSA agreement was discussed.
The park district obtained a quote from Sportsfields, Inc., to make the fields playable, which included three maintenance items. The first, for $2,600, would rebuild the mound and home plate, the second would replace and install new pitching rubbers for $1,300, and the third item to re-edge and redefine the infields for $6,200.
The park district intended to split the cost three ways among the park district, Peotone Baseball Softball Association, and the school district. However, PBSA advised they would only be willing to contribute a third to the first two items, noting their volunteers could complete the work proposed on the third item.
Then arose the concern of liability and whether that help could be accepted, before park district attorney Wade Callahan, who was seated in the audience, chimed in and essentially said the liability should not prevent them from moving forward, especially after PBSA noted they carry insurance and, if they had a sponsor company do the work, they also would be insured.
What was unknown was whether the school district would be willing to kick in any funds after a seemingly contentious back-and-forth about permanent control of the fields. The park board explored simply splitting the immediate maintenance plan with PBSA.
“Maybe there is an option for PBSA and us to do 50/50, and then the school’s teams, who have added nothing to the table, they still get to use the fields?” board member Chris Miller inquired, then responded with, “Got it,” after being told they would.
Outbursts from the audience, including one from resident John Maxedon, who spoke during public comments and interjected at several points, critiqued the board for spending money when the possibility of the school board taking over the fields was still on the table.
Ultimately, the board approved the total funds to make immediate repairs to the ball fields, following Callahan’s suggestion the board pass a payment amount up to the total, with details to be worked out later, pending agreements from PBSA and potentially the school district.
Long-Term Control Over Fields Reaches Fever Pitch
The long-term maintenance, control, and ownership of the fields continues to be a point of contention in the community. Discussions about a proposal by the school district to take over the ball fields, invest in them, and improve them have been circulating, but the park district stated they never received an official proposal detailing how community use would be accommodated, including boundaries and other relevant details.
“If there is, in fact, a proposal, what is the proposal? At best, it seems like right now, at best, the proposal is, we’ll take your land,” Callahan told the board.
Callahan emphasized he has a good working relationship with the school district’s attorney, and they are discussing options for a resolution, but it wouldn’t be as straightforward as the transfer of Blue Devil Drive.
This spurred further discussion on what options are even legally possible. Board member Lindsay Schwiesow proposed a lease agreement option that would allow the school district to lease the fields from the park district, enabling them to contribute funds to the maintenance of the fields.
Tim Stoub, a school board member present in the audience, then interjected, “Because the Illinois Constitution and the school code prohibits the school from making investments into your assets currently. So, if you’re asking the school to spend money up to a third, you’re asking that school to basically violate that law.”
Several others disputed Stoub’s point, and people began talking over one another. One audience member stated the school uses the fields all year and should leave them as they found them, but they don’t; the fields end up destroyed.
Schwiesow referred to other Illinois school and park district partnerships established through an intergovernmental agreement that allowed for shared use, maintenance, and investment. Board members neglected to mention that the Park District currently uses school district property for programming repeatedly throughout the year at no cost to the park district.
Conflicting information existed regarding whether an intergovernmental agreement still existed between the school district and the park district. Stoub affirmed he believed it still existed and had auto-renewed, while others, including Park Board President Barb Sim, were convinced it had been dissolved at some point more than a decade ago.
The subject of an IGA between the school and park district is not new; this was brought up at the April park board meeting. At that meeting, LaMore said the last IGA between the two districts expired in 1992. FOIA’d documents indicated the IGA was from 1994.
The IGA is a linchpin in allowing the school and park district to work together; an existing IGA would need to be canceled and a new one drawn up — but it’s just one disagreement of many with regard to what can and cannot be done for the ball fields, who should control them, and who has the money and also is willing to spend it on the fields.
Eric Wright, who spoke on behalf of the PBSA, emphasized the organization’s commitment to maintaining the fields, their ability to contribute volunteer labor, and the desire to utilize sponsorships and grants.
Wright highlighted the contributions that PBSA already has made to the park district for the fields, totaling well over $16,000 in the last two and a half years, including investments, such as bleachers, a scoreboard, and dugouts, among other contributions. He also explained they just recently had raised more than $7,000 for capital improvements to the fields and intend to pursue more.
The positivity ended there, with the remaining speakers lambasting the board.
“I understand you’ve got a tight budget, but when you’ve got people offering to help, giving you suggestions, it’s like the horse has gone to the trough and needs to be drowned,” John Maxedon told the board.
“In my honest opinion, this board should be dissolved, the village should take it over, and somebody who can manage a budget, manage projects accordingly, should be running the park district,” Maxedon continued, telling the board he was pushing for it.
“There’s a big push now to dissolve the park district. I would never even back that, but we’ve been here 13 years, and the whole park district has deteriorated so terribly it’s utterly embarrassing,” Erin Ekhart told the board.
“I’m just so disappointed,” Ekhart added, noting her disbelief that the park district passed up the school district’s offer to take over the fields.
Back to Business, Sort-of
The board attempted to restore order and refocus the meeting, but even that didn’t go smoothly.
It was brought to the board’s attention that a line item on the bills payable list showed $140 in overdraft fees, Venmo transfers, and several program refunds.
President Barb Sim seemed bewildered by the overdraft fees and opted to table the bills until they could speak with Jennifer Swanson, the individual the district hired last fall to maintain the books, to figure out what was going on.
Since Swanson took over the books, there have been multiple instances where accounting errors were discovered at the meeting. A “glitch” in accounting software was the cause of an issue in December, there was also a mathematical error in the budget and tax levy ordinance, an error with accounts payable that didn’t add up during the April meeting, and the most recent issue with the overdraft fees. Swanson also was the bookkeeper for the school district until her position there was recently posted.
The Vedette inquired with the district whether they have ever had a financial audit, which they have not, though they file financial reports with the Illinois Comptroller.
Additionally, The Vedette inquired about Swanson’s background. She had previously worked as a parks manager, but it was unclear whether she had any financial or accounting credentials.
After Sim tabled the bills payable, painting quotes for the building came in too high, so she tabled that, too.
This prompted Maxedon to respectfully call out the board for not following Robert’s Rules of Order.
“You’re chairing a meeting, and I know this is out of order, but you’re chairing a meeting, and it is the responsibility of the other board members to vote or to motion, and then it be tabled. You’ve got an entire panel to help you make decisions, and you’re the one making the recommendation to table items,” Maxedon said.
Schwiesow responded to say that anyone could make a motion, and she didn’t take issue with Sim’s decision, but Maxedon emphasized that Sim was “single-handedly” making decisions. At that point, Sim asked to back up, and then the board followed the standard procedure of motioning and tabling the items Sim had decided to table independently.
The board also decided to table the purchase of a new John Deere Gator so they could explore used options.
One agenda item outside the quick fix for the ball fields was approved — staff raises. The board did not publicly disclose the numbers during the meeting, but The Vedette obtained the final amounts.
Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Eschbach was brought to $20 hourly, and LaMore was brought to $50,450 annually. All other part-time pay raises brought pay rates to just over minimum wage at $15.75 with one part-time employee receiving $16.
Swanson received a dollar raise, bringing her part-time pay to $21 per hour, though she hasn’t had a performance review and has been at the park district for less than a year.
Before the meeting adjourned, Sim read a thank you card from the Westgate Homeowners Association thanking them for mulch in Westgate Park.
Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.
I am sorry what does LaMore do for 50K a year just wondering why she gets paid that amount to do what exactly ?