Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Top Ten Gifts the Pleasant Dale Park District Needs for Christmas

10. Eric Anderson's files.

9. A pooper scooper, a muzzle and a voice box.

8. Microphone system to decipher the board president's mumblings.

7. A proofreader for all future resident correspondence.

6. A roof repairman on speed dial for the Chalet.

5. New timepieces for board members ie. watches.

4. An influx of money.

3. Participants for their programs.

2. Robert's Rules of Order Handbook

1. Get out of debt free card.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha - Right On!

Kristin said...

Gina -

Your post is humorous, the situation at the park district is not. I have spent the last six months trying to determine what is going on at the park.

I have several concerns about attitudes and actions of park district officials. The first is that the meetings continuously start late because certain Board Members cannot arrive on time. There is no respect for individuals who have gotten babysitters or left work early to make it to the meetings. Supposedly at the meeting the other night, 3 Board Members decided to change the meetings to Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. even though they pubically admitted that the other two Board Members could not make Wednesdays. Interesting how this decision was made when the 2 other Board Members were not at the meeting. Equally frustrating is that the Board President, when there, has no concept of Roberts Rules of Order. This was eloquently pointed out by a Pleasant dale School Board Member at the November meeting. The Board President has arrived late at meetings or has not attended at all. When other Board Members are unable to make the meetings, they make sure they are available by phone. If you cannot handle your duties professionally or honorably then you need to re-evaluate your position and ask yourself if you can continue with the responsibilities of the role you were voted in to do.

The second concern I have is the amount of money spent over at the Chalet. To this day no one at the park has said publically how much that project cost. At the meeting the other night a Board Member said you could do a FOIA request to get the information. Why can't you just tell us - why do we have to go through the trouble of filling out a request? Did it cost $300,000, $400,000? Why the ambiguity? Also, where is the money coming from to pay for the Chalet renovation? The $300,000 the park district alludes to receiving is not available for at least a year. For a park district that is supposedly broke this seems like a desparate situation. Related to this is the amount of money spent on colored pamphlets announcing the Chalet Re-Grand Opening. It is Friday - did anyone get one in the mail? I did not. Once again for a park district that is in such financial trouble - how can you pay 1,000s of dollars in production and postage fees for a pamphlet that does not even get to your house before the event it is advertising?

As taxpayers we should be interested in how our hard earned money is being spent. We have high standards for our schools why not our park? Please consider e-mailing, calling or writing our local park district officials. Or better yet, attend the scheduled "Coffee with Board President" scheduled for January
9th and ask for answers.

Anonymous said...

Eric Anderson is the long time Attorney the Board fired with Rosalyn Epting. They have been trying to get park district related files from him.

Anonymous said...

Love the post: I laughed for several minutes I heard to make matters worse, and increase the over spending watch for the TWO new hires the board has made. Maybe someone should be asking about the fiscal responsiblity of this board. I heard that a the carpet vendor and the flooring have not been paid becuase there is not enough money to cover the bills. I would also be leary of the roof at the Chalet, I would not let my kids under it. Who knows when it is going to fall.

Anonymous said...

What two new hires since you are anonymous? Also, was it the whole Board or 3 members? When I asked Ernie Moon he did not even know they hired anyone. Now granted he is not in town, but they could at least call him. He is dealing with mold in a condo it is not like he is eating bon bons at home.

Anonymous said...

Oh how I miss the days of having people who cared volunteering and working at the park district. The previous board worked together (at least 4 of them did minus Colleen) and the wrongly terminated director worked for the betterment of the community. Now we have a convicted drug felon running our district and her friends she met during their campaign trail, who gave her the job with no experience, can't seem to get out of hot water and run a meeting right. The district was NEVER broke until the new board came on. Despite all the lies protrayed, they started the district's downward financial spiral.

Do you know where they got the money for the new positions? They terminated the Marketing Coordinator, Karla Olson. Maybe that's why the media material isn't out on time and has errors? I heard the new director was going to take over the media materials once they let go of Ms. Olson, funny how nothing is done correctly huh (timing, etc.)? Maybe she needs to put the drugs down and hire someone who knows what they are doing. Our district has turned into the laughing stock of the state. Not attending any programs or events would be the only answer to their corrupt ways! I now go to the Burr Ridge Park District where things are run right. Maybe all of you need to start doing that as well!

Kristin said...

Anonymous last post -

Anybody who knows me well knows I have been saying the same things over and over to park officials - you need to do things the right way. I have said all along that the Burr Ridge Park District is doing things the right way. I know I work there. I've worked in recreation for over 15 years - I know places who do it well. The BRPD is happy to have us come there. Many of their out of district fees are only $5.00 more. I have tried being respectful in my public comments and actions towards the Board and Katherine because 1. that is how I was brought up and 2. because my husband was interviewing at P-dale. The last straw for me is that my husband, who grew up in this area, has not even gotten a call about the two positions they supposedly filled. Not even a call. If it is true as an earlier post stated that they filled the positions I am not upset he did not get the jobs. I am more disappointed for him that they did not even let him know. My husband and I have both offered and given advice to Katherine and the Board and this is how they thank our graciousness? They say people should not complain, yet they treat the few that tried to help like this. This situation as I have stated is very sad. The only way it is going to change is if we start going to meetings and contacting Board Members and the Director. I know this is a busy time of year and people are super busy, but come on we need to stick up for our community. It is obvious from your post that you are upset, trust me, I have many people who can vouch for my level of frustration. We just need to remember that as a community we need to be leaders in treating others as we would like to be treated. We can get our point across in this open forum without name calling or alluding to what individuals do in their personal life. With that being said, it is great knowing that there is another person in this community who is willing to speak up.

Anonymous said...

Please please please - tell your friends and neighbors about this blog. Whether they agree with blogs or not, there are some FACTS here that people need to be aware of. We cannot count on the papers anymore - we need to rely on people in the community.