Two park commissioners were in the hot seat this week as residents fired a barrage of complaints at the New Lenox Parks Board.
Criticism centered on the combative relations between Commissioners Mike O’Neill and Dale Larson, who took office after the April election, on one side, and Commissioners Cheryl Mison and Tom Lewis, the board president, on the other. Commissioner Robert McKenna, who is usually allied with O’Neill and Larson, was not at Tuesday’s meeting.
Former Park Commissioner Pat Flynn said O’Neill, Larson and McKenna violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act by meeting with officials of the Illinois Association of Park Districts in Springfield earlier this month.
Neither the other commissioners nor the public was notified of the meeting, Flynn said.
Larson said the Springfield trip was an attempt to get help to improve relations among park commissioners.
“We may not love each other, but we have a job to do,” he said.
O’Neill and Larson have been critical of their predecessors’ financial management. They say building and operating the Sanctuary Golf Course drained funds that could have been used to develop more sports fields and neighborhood parks.
O’Neill, the treasurer, faulted the Park District’s accounting practices, especially transfers of cash to the golf course account.
Resident Karl Maurer, a certified public accountant, said “generally accepted accounting principles” indicate park finances have been properly reported. He said predictions that the Park District faces bankruptcy are inaccurate.
The golf course, he said, could eventually bring in enough revenue to help fund the rest of the Park District.
Resident Mark Patrick said the time has come to step back from arguments about the wisdom of building the Sanctuary Course. “It’s over with now,” he said. “Let’s make it work.”
Ron Schaper, founder of the New Lenox Mustangs youth football organization, defended the Park Board’s performance.
“It has done wonders with the money it has. It’s never missed a (debt) payment,” Schaper said. “Get back to running the Park District and stop performing for the cameras and the press.”
Resident Sandy Blunck said Larson and O’Neill should resign if they can’t get along with others.
