The private Wilmette Harbor Association may lose its lease to manage the North Shore marina, and its members are seething that a local Park District commissioner — who took part in private discussions and voted to spend taxpayer money to study the harbor — is making a private play to win the management contract.
Wilmette Park District Commissioner Mike Murdock also was rebuked by his board colleagues Saturday for not alerting them sooner to “the potential for a conflict of interest.” Murdock will remain a park commissioner, but he resigned as chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee, the district announced.
With the current lease for Wilmette Harbor set to expire at the end of November, its owner — the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District — solicited public bids last month for the 39-year contract. Previously, the Wilmette Park District had considered seeking the contract before opting against it last month.
As part of its consideration, Murdock was among those park commissioners who voted to spend $45,000 on a consultant’s report that eventually showed $11.7 million in necessary infrastructure improvements over the next 15 years at Wilmette Harbor, a silting basin with mooring slips for 290 vessels that sits at the mouth of Lake Michigan near the Baha’i temple.
Murdock also took part in nearly two years of public and private conversations about the harbor’s management, as the Park District worked with the Wilmette Harbor Association on a possible partnership. After waiting until the eleventh hour, park commissioners decided Sept. 20 in closed session to drop consideration of public involvement in the contract. A public vote was not made on that decision — officials say it wasn’t needed.
No one accuses Murdock of doing anything illegal. But his role with the new nonprofit corporation that submitted a bid last week for the contract has thrown fuel on an already controversial issue.
Murdock, whose father is a Harbor Association member, said he’s not seeking personal financial gain as part of his involvement. He said he wants to see increased access to the harbor — the same reason he supported the Park District’s involvement.
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“I don’t believe that my involvement with the Park District created an advantage for my bid group,” Murdock said. “I’d have to go back and take a look, but I don’t believe I saw any Harbor (Association) financials that were not public. And I certainly didn’t share anything that was not public with anyone in this group.”
On Oct. 22 — the day before the deadline to submit a bid — Murdock was part of a four-man team that incorporated Wilmette Harbor Management Inc. and submitted a bid to pay the Water Reclamation District $70,000 per year to manage the harbor.
CenterPointe Yacht Services also submitted a $70,000 bid for the contract, leaving Wilmette Harbor Association’s $68,501 as the lowest of the three bids, and possibly on the chopping block. According to reclamation district bidding procedure, its board is required to select the highest responsible bidder, but it can choose to solicit new bids from the two highest bidders.
Two years ago, when the current lease was nearing expiration, the Water Reclamation District suggested that the Harbor Association work with Park District officials on a joint agreement, so they could rely on a provision in state statute that allows a governmental entity to bypass a required public bidding process to negotiate a lease with another taxing body.
“The last thing we expected, after giving all our information to the Park District in an effort to work with them, was that an individual Park District member would be bidding against the Harbor Association,” said Sabine Herber, executive director of the Wilmette Harbor Association.
Herber declined to comment further, but other Harbor Association members were vocal in their frustration.
“As a public official spending taxpayer money, (Murdock has) learned a tremendous amount of information through his role as a public official, and now he’s seeking to utilize that information to operate, to submit a bid, and I think he owes a huge explanation to the people of Wilmette,” said Beth Beucher, a Harbor Association member.
Illinois Press Association attorney Esther Seitz said the appearance of impropriety is only skin-deep.
“At first blush, it does raise some eyebrows, but after some research I really couldn’t find anything in the municipal code or any other statute that would be violated here,” Seitz said.
Murdock said he decided Oct. 19 to join the three other directors of Wilmette Harbor Management Inc. — developers Fritz Duda Jr. and Warren James and William Gage, president of a Wisconsin boating sales and service company.
Murdock said he consulted with Wilmette Park District Executive Director Steve Wilson and its outside legal counsel, Charlene Holtz, and was told “there were no legal or ethical issues involved.”
Wilson confirmed that Murdock informed him of his participation in Wilmette Harbor Management Inc. on Oct. 22 — the day it was created — and that the two sought an opinion from the Park District’s legal counsel that night on a possible conflict of interest. Wilson said the park attorney didn’t see a conflict “based on the information provided.”
The park board statement issued Saturday criticized Murdock for not alerting members of his personal involvement in making a bid for the harbor contract until Oct. 23 — the day the bids were opened. It said Murdock “should have advised the board of his relationship with the group and the potential for a conflict of interest,” according to the statement. “The board does not endorse Commissioner Murdock’s involvement with this bid.”
It further announced that Murdock would immediately resign as chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee, which oversees Gillson Park, next to Wilmette Harbor, among other parks and programs.
“If the bid submitted by Mr. Murdock’s group is accepted by the MWRD, the board will expect him to refrain from participating in discussions or voting on any issues related to the harbor, adjacent park, beach or parking issues during the remainder of his tenure,” the statement said.