Revenue from fines issued by Buffalo Grove police for ordinance violations on park district property now will be kept in house, but some village trustees were concerned the policy change could take up officers’ time.
Village board members approved earlier this month an intergovernmental agreement that lets fine money for park district violations go through the village’s newly created adjudication court, even though Buffalo Grove police always have had the authority to enforce local ordinances on park district property.
The policy change simply keeps the fine money local, instead of having it go to the countywide courts, said both Village Manager Dane Bragg and Mike Terson, spokesman for the Buffalo Grove Park District.
“The only thing that is different is that now the Buffalo Grove Police Department has the authority to run any ordinance violations through their adjudication process rather than the court system,” Terson said.
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But some village trustees questioned whether officers now would spend too much time enforcing ordinances and settling disputes on park district property, especially when it comes to non-permitted activities — an issue for the park district in recent years.
Even though the park district charges various fees for permits, some “adult, renegade” teams have been known to use park district fields without the proper permit, causing park district officials to repair the fields without the proper permit fees to cover the cost, Terson said.
Officers could be taking up valuable time to determine whether a particular club or sports team has the right to use a particular field, said trustee Jeff Berman.
“Our police department has better things to do than kick little Billy and Bobby off the baseball field,” Berman said.
Terson clarified how the police department always has helped the park district remove teams that were not permitted to play on a particular field, even removing some teams from fields without issuing citations.
Terson and Bragg both said that the agreement would not require the police to put a greater priority on park patrols.
Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steve Casstevens also recently told the trustees that in his three and a half years, only one or two incidents in the parks had led to his staff getting involved.
The policy change isn’t meant to chase neighborhood kids and adults from park district fields, Terson said. Neighborhood residents are welcomed to use athletic fields when the park district or its affiliate programs aren’t using the fields, he said.
But the district does have issues with organized adult clubs and leagues not contributing to the costs of maintaining park district fields, Terson said. Buffalo Grove police can assist in those matters in the same way they’ve done in the past, he said.
“Both the park district and the affiliate groups, as well as other renters who use fields, all contribute to the costs of maintaining those fields,” Terson said. “This is about keeping outside organizations who collect revenue and have organized teams from using our fields without also contributing to the costs of maintaining those fields.”
Several coaches with youth-sports organizations in Buffalo Grove said they’ve properly paid for park district permits but also have seen damaged fields at the park district.
Thomas Gansauge, coaching director for the Schwaben AC soccer organization, said the issues is a concern for organizations that do abide by the rules.
“We didn’t have a practice there and the field is pretty torn, and you wonder who had a practice there,” Gansauge said. “I haven’t seen anyone else doing it, but it’s a concern.”
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