Here’s what’s going on at the Elmhurst Park District
By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Park District Board held a regular meeting on Nov. 27 at the district’s administrative office at 375 W. First Street. Commissioner Patricia Morissette-Moll was absent from the meeting.
There were no public comments.
Budget planning continues
The board held a brief public hearing immediately before the regular meeting. The hearing, which lasted about four minutes, was a special public hearing on the district’s tentative fiscal year 2018 budget and appropriation ordinance. There were no public comments.
The board will hold its next meeting on Dec. 11; that will be the board’s final meeting of 2017. The board is expected to approve the district’s proposed budget for 2018 during the Dec. 11 meeting. Board members did not engage in any discussion about the proposed budget during the Nov. 27 meeting.
Improvements at Conrad Fischer Park proposed
The meeting included a presentation about proposed improvements at Conrad Fischer Park in 2018. In September, 22 residents attended a public meeting to discuss proposed improvements at the park. The district has budgeted $300,000 toward playground equipment and installation at the park in 2018. Another $104,000 has been budgeted toward court redevelopment and resurfacing ($90,000), pathway improvements ($10,000) and drinking fountain/pad replacement ($4,000).
The park currently has two tennis courts and one roller hockey court. After reviewing feedback from the public, district staff proposed resurfacing the existing court surface, leaving two half-length basketball courts, one tennis court and one futsal/roller hockey court. Futsal is a variant of soccer, played on a smaller court, typically a hard-surfaced court. The courts will not be lighted.
The district’s current playground in the park was designed for children in the 2-5 age group. The 5-12 age group is served by Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 playground at Conrad Fischer Elementary School. The school district playground is not scheduled for upcoming renovations.
District staff anticipates getting bids for the project in January 2018. Construction should begin in June of next year. The project should be completed in early August.
Meetings schedule for 2018 approved
The board voted unanimously to approve its schedule of meetings in 2018. The Illinois Public Open Meetings Act requires public bodies to give public notice at the beginning of each calendar or fiscal year of the dates, times and locations of its regular meetings for the year. Next year’s meetings will begin at 7 p.m. on the boardroom of the administrative office. The board has scheduled two meetings in each month except December, when it typically has one meeting. Most board meeting will be held on the second and fourth Monday of each month. If the scheduled meeting falls on a holiday, the meeting will be held on the following Tuesday. The 2018 meeting dates are: January 15 and 29, February 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, April 9 and 23, May 14 and 29, June 11 and 25, July 9 and 23, August 13 and 27, September 10 and 24, October 9 and 22, November 12 and 26 and December 10.
Elmhurst Park District Executive Director James Rogers noted that the board sometimes decides to cancel a meeting. He said it’s easier to cancel a scheduled meeting than it is to add a meeting during the year.
Presentation on BoardDocs
The Nov. 27 meeting also included a presentation, which provided board members with information about using BoardDocs, a cloud-based board management service. BoardDocs is an online paperless system that requires Internet access and a browser. Several other public bodies, including Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205, use the BoardDocs service. The Elmhurst Park District’s BoardDocs service will launch to the public in January 2018.
