By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Park District Board held a regular meeting on April 23 at the district’s administrative office at 375 W. First Street. Commissioner Doug Ennis was absent from the meeting.
There were no public comments.
Challenges persist with registration software
The meeting included an update about the park district’s registration software. The software, RecTrac from Vermont Systems, Inc. (VSI), ran at an unacceptably slow rate during registration for park district programs on Feb. 24. The board has joined park district staff to work with VSI to correct the problem. The district’s summer open registration begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 5. On April 19, VSI worked with district staff to conduct a load testing. According to Elmhurst Park District Executive Director Jim Rogers, the results from that load testing were not very positive. The software operated well at lower levels of usage during the load test, but at higher levels, there were an unacceptable number of errors.
Speaking about the April 19 load testing, Commissioner Kevin Graf said that the system operated well with a simulation of 100 concurrent users. With 500 concurrent users, he said the system was decent. In Graf’s opinion, the system’s operation was “horrible” with a simulation of 1,000 concurrent users.
Rogers said that the May 5 registration is small compared to some of the district’s other recent registrations. Rogers said he has some larger concerns about upcoming registration periods. He said the issues with the registration software must be resolved by this fall.
Board discusses future of Lizzadro building
The April 23 meeting also included a discussion of the district’s future options for the Lizzadro Museum, which is located in Wilder Park. The Lizzadro family has announced plans to move into a new facility in Oak Brook. Construction of that facility will begin this summer. The family will vacate the building in Elmhurst in late 2019. In advance of that move, park district staff has begun formulating options for the board to consider with regard to the museum building and site. The building, which takes up about 5,000 square feet, was constructed in the early 1960s.
The options compiled by park district staff include demolishing the building and returning the area to green space, demolishing the building and replacing it with a new building, reusing the existing building for district purposes and reusing the building for non-district purposes by allowing usage by a community group or non-profit organization.
The total estimated cost to abate and demolish the building and restore the area to green space is about $225,000.
Commissioner Carolyn Ubriaco said she doesn’t have any warm feelings about the building. She added that the building is not in the condition that she would entertain keeping it. Commissioner Mary Kies said she liked the idea of removing the building and restoring the area to green space. Commissioner Tim Sheehan said he would like to exhaust the ideas of how the building could be repurposed.
Board president Vince Spaeth indicated the existing building would likely be removed, but he said the park district staff should look at utilization options for the facility.
Gateway offers presentation of programs
Ryan Massengill, the superintendent of the Gateway Special Recreation Association, gave a presentation to the board during the April 23 meeting. Massengill gave an overview of the services and programs the association provides to Elmhurst residents with special needs. The Elmhurst Park District is one of eight area park districts that make up the Gateway Special Recreation Association. The association contracts the services of the Ray Graham Association for People with Disabilities.
Rogers’ contract amended to include raise, bonus
Board members voted unanimously during the April 23 meeting to amend Rogers’ contract, effective May 1, 2018. The amendment calls for Rogers’ annual compensation to increase by 1 percent, to $171,682. Additionally, Rogers was awarded a one-time bonus of $8,000. The district will also provide him with a $500,000, one-year term life insurance policy, effective Jan. 1, 2019, at a cost not to exceed $3,500. Board members recently completed their annual job performance evaluation of Rogers. The board discussed his contract and compensation with him in closed session on April 9.
The board will hold its next meeting on May 14.
