What You Should Know: Overall, LWV feels the Park District is moving in the right direction. However we have concerns regarding cost of programs and transparency of Park District expenditures, including salaries.
Why You Should Care: The Park District is a multi-million organization that taxes Glen Ellyn residents and is governed by an elected board and paid administrators. LWV encourages citizens to attend board meetings held monthly.
Become a Board Watcher: League Board Watchers attend meetings and report back to the League what happened. If you would like to watch the Glen Ellyn Park District Board for League, please contact us at info@LWVGE.org
Glen Ellyn Park District Long Range Plan Consensus (2005)
Glen Ellyn Park District Mission: The Glen Ellyn Park District is driven to foster diverse, community based leisure opportunities, through a harmonious blend of quality recreation programs, facilities and open space which will enhance the quality of life into the future.
Land Acquisition and Park Development:
The League supports the continued exploration of land acquistion to meet the park district mission when financially feasible and appropriate, including scattered vacant lots or unique parcels. The League encourages the Glen Ellyn Park District to continue to pursue annexation of properties contiguous to current boundaries.
There is currently no incentive for neighborhoods outside the Glen Ellyn Park District to seek annexation to the district. We encourage the Park District to explore a fee structure for non-residents that would more fairly represent the tax costs to residents, thus encouraging the annexation of neighboring areas.
Intergovernmental and Public Cooperation
We encourage continued cooperation and open dialogue between the Park District and other public and private facilities for the public benefit. Continued intergovernmental cooperation is to be encouraged between the Glen Ellyn Park District and other governmental bodies, such as other park districts, the Glen Ellyn Recreation Commission, school districts, Village government, and the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.
Recreation and Facilities Development
The League of Women Voters recommends that the Glen Ellyn Park District actively seek broad community input during the planning process and before adoption of the Long Range Plan. We urge a continuing dialogue with teh commjnity to ensure informed support of Park District facilities, services, programs, and financing.
We applaud the Park District's willingness to foster emerging sports and accept responsibility for management of recreation programs that have become too large for volunteers tomanage effectively such as Glen Ellyn Baseball. However, we are concerned that "Pay to Play" philosophies may be inhibiting participation.
We are concerned that a scarcity of playing fields could inhibit participation in organized sports, something the public seems to want.
Park Maintenance
We agree that the Glen Ellyn Park District should follow a well planned program of maintenance of existing parks and equipment.
Organization and Staffing
We support the practice of funding Glen Ellyn Park District staff salaries through operating funds rather than bond issues. It is difficult to assess the full amount of salaries and compensation of staff using the current published budget layout. While we applaud that practice, we would appreciate being able to assess at a glance the full compensation of all salaried administrators and staff.
Future Finances
We encourage a broad financial vision. We appreciate that the Park District is clearly delineating capital projects from on-going operations.
We affirm support for the direction the Glen Ellyn Park District's financial planning has taken since the 1989 study. The District's finances are based on a solid foundation of responsible planning and forcasting. We would liek to see the district go further in expanding free and low cost programming for low-income families, even setting a measurable threshold to meet each year for % of dollars and % of services designated to meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.
We urge a continuing dialogue with the community to ensure informed support of Park District financing, facilities, services, and programs.
Although not addressed in the long-range plan, we agree with the park district's decision to establish a foundation which enables tax-free donations to be made. Major recipients of these donations are low-income children. However we are concerned with the openess of the governing board of the foundation, the application process to the board, and the board's proeess for deciding who benefits from the donations. The foundation's contributions to the park district and the expenses the park district incurs for the foundation should be clearly noted in budget documents.
