The Maywood Park District should consolidate into the Village of Maywood to eliminate a taxing body that will help reduce the tax burden

MAYWOOD PARK DISTRICT OWNED

Bosco Park (21st & Railroad Ave)

Emanuel Chris Welch Park (1021 S. 10th Ave)

Burton Park (16th Ave & Washington Blvd)

Central Area Park (S. 9th & Madison St)

Administrative Building – 921 S 9th Ave

Lightford Center – 809 Madison St

Historic Home – 216 S 10th

In October of 2023, Village of Maywood, Mayor Booker addressed the Village Board about issues within the Maywood Park District (District). The following things were brought to light:

  • Commissioner June Price-Shingles and Commissioner Jeffrey Dean Harris both resigned from the District due to things like not receiving audits, programming not in place, and not knowing financials.

  • The District reported less than $310 in their bank account during their October 2023 board meeting

  • The District had two instances of bounced payroll within the last few pay periods.

  • Health Insurance for District employees’ payments had not been paid for months and the insurance was cancelled.

  • 5 former employees reported missed hours worked and accurate pay at their October 2023 board meeting with the threat of a class action lawsuit and filed grievances with the State.

  • The District is more than $274,000 in debt. The District also as of October 2023 took an additional $200,000 for a line of credit, now totaling more than $474,000 of debt.

  • The District had not met their financial obligations for the management agreement of village owned facilities and parks during.

During the October 2023 village board meeting, the board voted to not extend a new contract for the management of the 7 village owned parks, swimming operations that had failed 2 years in a row in partnership with Proviso East along with the Maywood Masonic Temple (200 S 5th Ave) and the former CeaseFire Building (1100 S 11th Ave).

By January of 2024, there was a 3rd resignation from the District board in Commissioner Chaun. A community meeting was held where the former District Commissioners shared, they pushed for financial audits to be presented, accurate budgets be provided, and more financial transparency be made available with nothing happening.

Through various District board meetings, it has now been brought to light:

  • A financial audit has not been completed nor reported to the State of Illinois (State) by the District in 5 years.

  • The District previously approved budgets over the past few years have never been reconciled. The 2024-2025 that should have been presented to the board for approval by April 2024 and submitted to the State, has yet to be seen.

  • There was never a budget created to maintain financially or physically the village owned properties while under management of the District.

  • The District has not paid utilities or vendors such as the IT company ProvenIT that covers computer protection and camera security monitoring both of which have been shut down.

  • ComEd for electricity bills were discovered to be nearly 2 years unpaid at nearly $30K.

  • Ancel Glink law firm removed themselves from legal representation still with an unpaid balance.

  • There are 0 treasurer reports that should be on every board meeting packet to be found yet the same board Treasurer retains his position.

  • The Executive Director Lonette Hall has been on leave with pay pending investigation since February 2024. Her salary is a $90,000 salary, which means taxpayers have paid salary and benefits for nearly 6 months while she is home vs working with no public findings presented as she currently remains on leave with pay in July of 2024. At the same time the Interim Executive Director, Rodney Chaney has been paid at a $110,000 salary meaning the District is currently paying $200,000 in salaries and benefits for the Executive Director position.

  • There is a whistleblower case that was launched by Director Hall that has the District on the hook for a pending lawsuit

  • Senior citizens were paying for a Wednesday Senior Day program that had already been funded by AgeOptions through a grant that provided funding for staff, hot meals, and activities 5 days a week vs just the one that was being charged to the seniors.

  • Cook County came to inspect the 921 S 9th Ave District Admin Building and Gym facility at the beginning of July 2024 which resulted in the building being shut down due to safety hazards, maintenance, and upkeep. The District has been cited for continuing to be in the facility and utilizing the kitchen in the facility while the building has official closed signs at every entrance.

  • The Village has cited the District several times this year for not attaining their liquor license for events that legally must be filed with the County. The District continues to hold events without securing their liquor license and filing with the County.

  • The District has still not resolved the more than $75,000 in medical bills employees accumulated during the 7 months they had not paid into health insurance.

  • Special Recreation programming for the disabled and special needs community have pulled out of the District due to lack of payment

The Village of Maywood has taken back control of the 7 out of 11 parks the Village owns from the Park District. The Village needs to consolidate the Maywood Park District to create the Village of Maywood Parks & Recreation Department. Once this is done, the remaining 4 parks and closed Park District owned facilities can be addressed.

VILLAGE OWNED PARKS & FACILITIES

Veterans Park (5th Ave & Oak St)

Conner / Heise Park (10th Ave & Washington Blvd)

Winfield Scott Park (17th Ave & Maywood Dr)

Water Works Park (9th Ave & Maywood Dr)

Standard Park (5th & Lexington Ave)

Bataan Park (22nd & Lexington Ave)

Tot Lot Park (4th Avenue & Huron St)

Former Cease Fire Building (1100 S 11th Ave)

Masonic Temple (200 S 5th Ave)

Additional benefits of consolidating the Maywood Park District (District) into Village of Maywood (Village).

  • The Village already has Legal, Finance, HR, and Public Works Departments. The Village would ensure budgets and audits are completed on an annual basis. This is something the District has failed to do in auditing and reconciliation for more than 5 years now. Still today, there is no approved 2024-2025 budget

  • The Village already budgets and plans community events such as Village Pride – Village Wide, Mother’s Day, Juneteenth, Health & Wellness Fest, Caribbean Heritage Celebration, Inspire Fest, Maywood Fest, Hispanic Heritage Celebration and so much more. These are things that traditionally should be planned and budgeted by the District, but for years even with their logo on flyer, the Village pays the bills and ensures the events are successful.

  • The Village would be able to ensure bills such as Healthcare, Electricity, Legal, Security Systems, Computer Software, Vendors along with more are paid on time and not left with the lack of payment companies like Ancel Glink, ComEd, ProvenIT, and others are experiencing now.

  • In 2024, as owner and now management of operations, the Village has already installed 4 new playgrounds, updated 6 basket ball courts, 5 baseball fields, and updated 21 blocks of the Illinois Prairie Path. These areas of recent improvement were managed/overseen by the District in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with no changes.

  • The Village is installing a new dog park set to open by early September 2024 that the District committed to doing back in 2022. The Village is also installing a new basketball court on the South side of Maywood at Stannard Park (5th & Lexington)

    The District had the opportunity to do all this and more, but there was no budgeting, plan of execution, nor collaborative partnership to get this accomplished on the District side.

The Village of Maywood can start addressing the Maywood Park District’s mismanagement issues on Day 1 and unite the community in one budget

The District should not be hosting events vs taking care of their financial responsibilities:

  • When is the District going to return the funds to our Senior Citizens that were charged for a Wednesday Seniors program after AgeOptions had already provided a grant to the District to run Senior programming and activities 5 days a week with a hot meal included?

  • When is the District going to pay their outstanding bills, some of which are nearly 2 years old

  • When is the District going to file the permits to get the 921 S 9th Ave electrical, kitchen, roofing, air conditioning and more brought up to code? Cook County came to inspect the building July 3, 2024 and the violations were so bad the Village of Maywood had to shut it down. Read the report HERE.

  • When is the District going to actually produce a budget the community can hold them accountable to? There is no 2024-2024 budget.

  • When is the District going to pay for their audits to be done and reported to the state? This is supposed to be done annually. They are 5 years behind.

  • When is the District going to release the report of the pending investigation of currently still being paid on leave Executive Director Hall? The report has cost the taxpayers money and it has also forced us to pay Interim Director Chaney’s $110K salary along with still on leave Director Hall’s $90K salary plus benefits. The District needs to explain how you can give someone a nearly $30K increase one year and then the very next put them on administrative leave with pay for 6 months without any public acknowledgement.

  • The District needs to explain why someone gets paid $110K as Executive Director of 4 parks and 2 facilities that are connected?

  • When is the District going to pay the former employees who have reported them to the department of labor their backpay?

  • When is the District going to pay back the more than $75K to employees who now have medical bills because the District stop paying for coverage even though they are legally obligated to?