Winnetka Park District board members are considering imposing new guidelines on accessing public information.
Staffing at the Park District has undergone several changes in the past months including the resignation of an employee who oversaw responses to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act and the marketing manager. Park District Executive Director John Peterson said the large number of requests from commissioners, especially as staff is completing planning of the Jan. 21 Elder and Centennial beach workshop, has contributed to an increase in the workload.
“We’ve had this discussion before, and it came up because the staff was being overstretched and we’ve lost staff,” Commissioner Mickey Archambault said. “They became overwhelmed. We’ve been seriously burned by this. I want to protect staff.”
Archambault suggested commissioners loop in Peterson on requests of staff so he can be aware of them.
“The frequency of requests is much greater than any one of you board members understand. Sometimes, the severity of the request or the required work from a staff member is much greater than you would ever anticipate,” Peterson said. “We will work like dogs to get it done to the detriment of our health or to the detriment of our families.”
Commissioner Christina Codo said the bigger issue is the need to empower the staff to let board members know when their plates are full and don’t have the time to respond to requests immediately.
Commissioners Colleen Root and Cynthia Rapp, who both joined the board after the Elder and Centennial project began, pushed back saying that they have both sent in requests that have gone unanswered. Root said she ended up getting much of the background information she needed on the project from FOIA requests by the public.
“I think there are lots of cases where other people have information that all commissioners don’t have and that’s a problem,” Rapp said.
The board also discussed a new media policy that would direct all requests for statements to the executive director or the board president if the director is unavailable.
Village attorney Steve Adams said this policy isn’t meant to take away any individual commissioner’s opinion but to minimize their ability to speak as the board as a whole.
“I think it’s very important that individual commissioners not report to speak on behalf of the board unless they’re expressly authorized,” Adams said. “It’s important to have a policy that you can’t in your official capacity speak on behalf of the district.”
Root, however, said she suspects that the policy is being considered because individuals have commented on controversial topics such as the Elder and Centennial project.
“I always say ‘I cannot speak for the board. I am a sole individual. I cannot do that’ and I refer them to our executive director,” Root said. “But I will not be silenced if I wish to speak what Colleen Root as a citizen of the Village of Winnetka wants to say.”
Park District staff members are moving forward with the search for a coastal engineer for the Elder and Centennial project after receiving three proposals. All three candidates have been interviewed and Wisconsin-based firm Red Barn Design and Engineering, who applied with a subcontract to local firm Shabica and Associates, was ranked highest among the seven panel members.
Contracts still need to be drafted and considered but Director of Parks and Maintenance Costa Kutulas hopes to have it completed by the Jan. 21 workshop so the firm can be there to answer residents questions.
Board President Warren James also hopes to have a representative from lakefront property owner Justin Ishbia’s team at the workshop and has reached out several times to invite them. No response has been given to the request.
“The most urgent issue is our relationship with our neighbor to the south,” Warren said. “We have not had further dialogue or discussion with Orchard 2020 but I think it should become abundantly clear that our properties abut. We either will be subject to what Mr. Ishbia decides to do on his property or we can coordinate with and do something on our property. This is the chance to be very public on the design process.”
By not having a working relationship, plans currently put the southern breakwater on Park District land several feet shorter than the breakwater in Ishbia’s permits to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Other goals for the workshop include getting feedback on the size of the dog beach, how best to separate the swimming portion of the beach from the dog beach and that beachgoers are able to walk along the beach while keeping the dog beach in line with county standards.
The workshop is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21 at the village community house.