Thursday, November 4, 2010

Pleasant Dale Park Update

We know that many people have been checking in here for a Pleasant Dale Park update. We apologize for missing the October meeting, but we hear that it went very smoothly since the park board president Pettrone was absent.

We want to congratulate Willow Springs resident, Mark Radulski, on becoming the new park commissioner, taking the place of former board president Brad Martin. Mr. Radulski grew up in the district and applied for the vacant seat in hopes of, "giving back to the community." We want to wish him a lot of luck on the park board.

We will continue to take issue with the park district on the lack of regard for its residents. It is up to commissioners Ernie Moon, Kevin Burke, and Mark Radulski to start moving the park in the right direction in regard to the open meetings act. Katherine Parker, under the direction of Colleen Pettrone and Wade Brewer, will not accommodate the residents of the district in this regard.

There is no reason that meeting agendas and minutes cannot be published online. Attorney Cainkar insists that the park district does not have a full time employee devoted to the website, but maybe he should take a look at the website. It was updated WEEKLY all summer and fall with sports scores. When asked who updated the scores every week on the website, Parker replied that is was Matt Russian,  a full time employee.

Apparently, sports scores or more important than the board meeting agendas and minutes.

While Mr. Russian is busy updating the park district website with sports scores, maybe he can make a few other updates. Namely, here and here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That place is a joke!

Kristin said...

Honest, respecful suggestions for anonymous at 7:53 p.m.- you are making some pretty serious accusations that would be better communicated to certain Park Board members or with Ms. Parker herself through possibly an Employee Assistance Program referral. You are obviously frustrated as I as a local citizen, but I think we need to be careful when posting on this blog when we make serious accusations like these. I know for a fact that the authors of this blog, although controverial, investigate topics before posting them. They use sources as back up such as newspaper articles and videos to support their arguments. These bloggers strive to make this blog an accurate representation of what goes on in the community. I don't always agree with what is posted on here, but I know before something is posted the information has been verified. We as posters need to be cognizant of that when writing comments so that the blog can serve its purpose of being a credible, respectful source for conveying community information. In addition, people need to start attending Board Meetings as I have to make these people accountable. Simply going on this blog to report information like yours in my opinion is not the best way to serve this community. With that being said, I hope the "new" Board will begin scrutinizing the Park Director and Superintendent more so that the park can reach its full potential for the people it is supposed to serve.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping us informed! The world needs more people like you!

Anonymous said...

Question..... why are a full-time salaried staff, making upwards of $50,000 instructing classes that use to be taught by high school kids? Is this why class prices have gone up? Is this the best arrangement for our tax dollars?

Anonymous said...

I am fine with a full-time employee instructing classes. The classes taught by the high school kids were probably not good. P-dale Park District needs to do a better job with their programs, if this is what they need to do then I don't see anything wrong with it. I have been impressed with Matt Russian. He seems like he is making an effort to provide quality programs. I just wish they had more people with his type of experience in charge over there. It seems like they are just maintaining status quo over there. Why don't they have a strategic plan or long range planning? How about some goals or doing PR in the community? The new administration has been in charge for over a year now - not too impressed with their output so far!