Free Entertainment!!

There's a new form of entertainment in our community these days - local board meetings. Let us share some of the highlights of the last five local board meetings we attended.

At the Pleasantdale School board meeting on April 15, superintendent Mark Fredisdorf attempted to explain why 35% of the students in the fourth grade are in remedial reading by stating they most likely have social/emotional issues and unsavory home lives – shifting the blame for a shoddy reading program away from the school district and onto the parents.

At the Willow Springs village board meeting on April 16, the head of public works and an administrative assistant were let go because they applied for a federally funded grant aimed at building sidewalks and installing traffic calming measures in order to help children walk to school. Apparently the school district and the village board did not want attention drawn to the dangerous streets that line the routes to school or they were afraid that someone else might get the credit for trying to make things better for kids.

On May 6, it was the Willow Springs’ Planning and Zoning Commission’s turn for political antics. At that meeting, commissioner Schmidt accused committee head Tom Kaptur of making deals on the side without the knowledge or consent of the entire board. Kaptur quickly adjourned the meeting, against the village attorney’s wishes, to stave off the accusations being hurled against him. Now it seems, they will have to reconvene the meeting and taxpayers will be footing the bill.

The icing on the cake came at the last two Pleasant Dale Park District board meetings. On May 12 in front of a packed house we learned that the new board members Brad Martin and Wade Brewer had themselves sworn in before the actual meeting which raised many eyebrows. We were enlightened on the hostile work environment at the golf course which has caused several employees to quit. We watched the two new board members and existing member Colleen Pettrone take over the meeting and the board much to the chagrin of everyone there. We heard a resident ask Martin how he got her unlisted number to solicit her support during the election. Finally, we learned that a commissioner may have broken the law by forging a letter on park district stationary for her son and his accomplices to get out of performing court ordered community service.

At the June 9th meeting, with over 40 residents in attendance, we watched park board president Brad Martin refuse to allow public comment at the beginning of the meeting as it has been done for the last 20 or so years. This did not seem to be a very smart move. The meeting lasted over two and a half hours and was filled with snide comments, boos and jeers from the audience. If public forum had taken place at the start of the meeting, the room most likely would have cleared out soon afterward. Instead, those in attendance got an earful and saw first hand how our park board has been hijacked and the district appears in shambles.

We learned that the interim director Katherine Parker Parker, who has no experience managing a park district, has been on the job 17 days yet had not had a background check. According to Illinois state statute, this must be done prior to employment when working with children or money. When Commissioner Moon made a motion to bar her from working at the park until the state obligation was met, commissioners Martin, Pettrone and Brewer declined to do so violating state law. Pettrone stated that "we haven't discussed her salary so we don't have to do a background check," even though Parker has already been on the job 17 days. In addition, an audience member brought up Parker's shady past.

https://www.iardc.org/rd_database/rulesdecisions.html (Search Parker) (pg. 6, 3/1/1991)

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/westernsprings/news/1614750,western-springs-pddirector-060909-s2.article

It was also revealed that the matter concerning the commissioners' sons and the forged letter satisfying a community service obligation was taken care of in executive session. With a 3 to 2 majority vote, one can only surmise how that was handled.

During the consent agenda, Moon questioned an invoice in regard to why the park district recently hired a locksmith to change one lock to the tune of $107 when they employ a full time maintenance staff. A nice waste of our taxes.

Audience members questioned who the president of the board was as Martin and Brewer sat there in silence while vice president Pettrone ran the meeting. Another audience questioned why Brewer wanted to be on the park board yet did not open his mouth once during the meeting.

A former park commissioner stated he was appalled that board president Martin called a special meeting at noon on the Friday of a holiday weekend, purposely so that the public could not attend. We also learned that Martin, Brewer and Pettrone violated the open meetings act by conducting their own meeting to discuss firing the former director, replacing the park attorney and hiring Parker despite any formal vetting process taking place. We heard that the former park director was dismissed quite abruptly and the taxpayers will be footing the bill for any litigation that will likely come out of this. Things went from bad to worse as the meeting went on.

This new form of entertainment is much better than any soap opera on TV these days. You really can’t make this stuff up. We look forward to the future meetings of these local boards because you never know what might happen! We also encourage all district residents to follow the political antics of these boards as well.

It's fantastic entertainment, and best of all, it’s free!!