Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Commissioners hear from Kendall County Tax Revolt members before vote.
After intense public commentary and discussion between commissioners, the Oswegoland Park District Board voted to approve this year’s tax levy with a reduction of 5 percent from last year. Prior to the tax levy discussion, several community members spoke in support of a Kendall County non-binding 20 percent levy reduction that 71 percent of voters approved Election Day. Jan Alexander, a member of the Kendall County Property Tax Revolt, said she wanted the park board to take the cuts seriously. “Your services don’t save lives,” she said. “We want some cuts.” Oswego resident Richard Ayers added that the “board doesn’t have proper respect for citizens.” Another resident,, Dave Peterson, said he felt the park district wasn’t a luxury and that…
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The newly-released transcript of the Dec. 28 closed session, during which the Oswegoland Park District Board violated the Open Meetings Act, shows a board at odds with one another.
The just-released transcripts of a closed-door session in December offer a glimpse at the tensions between members of the Oswegoland Park District board, tensions that Board President Bob Mattingly said haven’t improved since. The written record of the meeting has been made available at the behest of Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis, who rendered his opinion last week that the park board violated the Open Meetings Act during this session. It was Commissioner Len Wass who complained to Weis about the violation, and the transcript shows that the conversation was largely about Wass himself. The Illinois Open Meetings Act provides 28 exceptions under which public bodies can meet behind closed doors, but Weis said portions of the …
Thursday, May 31, 2012
The Oswegoland Park District board member suggested a target of 20 percent in cost reductions, but other board members disagreed, saying staff is already working to cut expenses.
Should the Oswegoland Park District set a formal goal for spending cuts, and stick to it? That’s the question raised by Board Member Len Wass last week, during the park district board’s regular meeting. And though other board members did not take to the idea, saying the district is already holding the line on costs where it can, Wass still believes it’s a good one. Even though the district kept the tax levy the same in 2012 as it was in 2011, Wass said, the district’s portion of his tax bill went up. That, he said, is due to a declining tax base, and the only way to combat that is to trim spending. So Wass proposed passing a board resolution to set a goal of reducing district expenses by 20 percent. It is the second time he has proposed a …
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The executive director is the second high-ranking official to resign in as many months.
Bill McAdam, the longtime executive director of the Oswegoland Park District, has resigned and will take the same position at the Downers Grove Park District. According to an email McAdam sent to staff and Park Board Commissioners Tuesday morning, his last day with the District will be May 4. McAdam began with the district in 2003. “While I am excited to take on a new challenge, it is difficult to leave a district that has at its core one of the finest most dedicated staff in the industry,” McAdam wrote in his email. McAdam’s resignation follows closely that of Margaret Gienger, the former superintendent of marketing, who last month accepted a position with the Park District of Highland Park. “It’s a sad day for the park district, but a …
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Commissioner Len Wass again battled the board majority Tuesday night.
The discussions of executive sessions of local elected boards are rarely made public, but that’s just what happened at Tuesday night’s Oswegoland Park District Board meeting at South Point Center. Commissioner Len Wass read from a statement, saying he again suffered from what he called intimidation from fellow board members during a Dec. 28 executive session meeting. The attack, he said, was the second such incident. The first came at the district’s Oct. 26 board workshop at the Little White School Museum, during which Wass sparred with the board over park district spending. “… At an executive session held on Dec. 28, 2011, this board once again continued its assault on me, asserting among other things, that I should seek the board’s …
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Commissioner and Oswegoland Park District critic Len Wass presented his campaign financial analysis to his fellow commissioners Wednesday morning at the Little White School Museum. It was less than warmly received.
The tension between members of the Oswegoland Park District Board continued Wednesday morning at a four-hour board workshop held at the Little White School Museum. Commissioners met to discuss a wide range of issues, but spent most of their time arguing about newly-elected member Len Wass’ campaign study of park district spending. Allegations that Wass manipulated the district’s budget numbers to shed a negative light on spending stretched out over his nearly 90-minute presentation of his analysis, which was widely disseminated during the campaign earlier this year. Commissioners agreed to allow Wass to provide his analysis at the workshop meeting after a report in the Aurora Beacon News said that his claims that the park district spends …
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Deep division on the Oswegoland Park Board surfaces on Thursday night.
As much as Commissioner Len Wass may want them, term limits on the Oswegoland Park District Board are not likely to happen anytime soon. The reasons are twofold. First, the district’s attorney has said state statute doesn’t allow the park board to impose term limits on its members, and the board majority led by longtime commissioner and President Bob Mattingly have no interest in doing so, either. Wass and his fellow commissioners clashed on that and other issues at Thursday night’s meeting, which included more debate on overspending at the Park District. “There is no statutory basis for imposing term limits on the office of park commissioner” in the park code, said Mattingly,reading from an email from the board's attorney. “Unlike some …
Dave
8:58 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
Russ voted for 20%, hoping for 5% and got it. I don't believe there is 20% of waste at the park district, and I have not seen it identified. more ›