THE TURF TALK TRANSCRIPT

An FOI (Freedom of Information Act) request was filed by the Glen Ellyn Park Bench with the Glen Ellyn Park District for the audio recording made by the Park District of this meeting. A transcript was made from the Turf portion and the statements before, during and after the Creech, Nephew walkout in order to verify the accuracy of statements made by Staff and Commissioners during those portions of the meeting.


Atwell: “Resolution 90-07 which directs staff and counsel to enter into an agreement with Glenbard West on Turf.”

Dallman: “So, are you just looking for a motion for this Resolution?”

Atwell: “Correct. That’s what we are asking for. We cannot enter into an agreement. We do not have an agreement; we are just trying to move forward.”

Dallman: “Ok. Than I make a motion to approve Resolution 09-07. Resolution regarding Park District contribution to District 87 installation of artificial turf at Memorial Field portion of Glenbard West High School site.”

From Audience: “Point of Order.”

Hess: “2nd.”

Minogue: “We have a second.”

From Audience: “May I make a public comment? Thomas Water, *&* G$%# Avenue, I am a 24 years resident of Glen Ellyn. Several month ago I, John Huston who lives on L&^# Street in Glen Ellyn and Mary Ellen Wexler met with Mr. Atwell and I believe Kathleen Esposito to discuss the turf issue. At that time we were told that there were no plans to enter into an agreement with District 87. We were told that staff felt it was not economically justified, or justifiable given the amount of time that District 87 would allot to the Park District for the funds to be expended. Um and several representations were made but I think those were the most important. Um, I requested Mr. Atwell and Ms. Esposito to call me in the event that things changed or they decided to have further discussions regarding the turfing issue and I was assured that they would.

“Unfortunately I did not receive a call in that regard. Um, I believe the expenditure, especially with the cost overruns at Ackerman at this point that $20,000 expenditure a year, while it may seem minimal over an 8 year period is significant. And I think the Park District should consider that you’re getting into bed with a project that is going to cost more in the future because this turf has to be replaced every 8 years, at considerable expense.

“I don’t know how much research you’ve done into the replacement costs are going to be but I think that’s something the Park District should look into before going ahead with an agreement with District 87. I also think your funds could be better spent if you utilized them for Park District projects where you know benefits than a part time usage of Memorial Field on I guess it was Sundays or weekends, some portion of Sundays or weekends. I haven’t seen the actual proposal , um, it doesn’t seem to me that that ‘s worth $20,00 a year and I would ask that the Board table this for further consideration and look into the matter in more detail. Thank you very much.”

Kinzler comments.

Thomas Waters: “Mr. Kinzler, I think one of the things you should consider in that regard with respect to the amount of usage you can get out of this field is that during the summertime those fields all have an ambient temperature of about 40 degrees warmer than the surrounding fields, or places with real grass. So on an 80 degree day you can have a 120 degree temperature out there which are unplayable and unsafe for children.

“I don’t have kids. But I don’t want them going out there and passing out from heat exhaustion or you know, god forbid, something worse. There have been incidents, where um children have been hospitalized and I read of one death actually that occurred on a turf field and I think that is something the Board should consider because you can’t utilize or you may not be able to utilize it as much as you may expect to, in reality.

“So, I do think this, I think that the Board should get a good bang for its buck. I want to see your dollars well spent and I think that the Board is very conscious of that an d I am very pleased tonight at the detail that the Commissioners have gone into with respect to expenditures but this one merits a closer look and that you should really consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of going into this partnership. Thank you very much.”

Mrs. Waters Comments.

Minogue: “We have a Motion and a Second. Roll call please.”

Nephew: “Before we continue with the vote I’m concerned that staff had promised residents to be contacted when this was discussed. We also received a memo in a packet saying that they were contacted. So, that’s a major concern to me that they’re telling us they were contacted they were not. Because they wanted to take part in these discussions earlier.”

Atwell: “Mr. Huston was contacted. Mr. Huston was asked to be contacted he brought a letter to us and he was sent a letter and it was in your Board Packet.”

Nephew: “And Mr. Waters?”

Atwell: “I don’t know if Mr. Waters was or not. I just know Mr. Huston was because that is who gave us the letter.”

Nephew: “I heard that Mr. Huston was not contacted.”

Atwell: “Mr. Huston was contacted.”

Nephew: “By letter?”

Atwell: “By letter, yes. That was in your (Board) Packet.”

Nephew: “I did see a note saying he was contacted. I didn’t see…”

Atwell: “There was a letter.”

Nephew: “That’s not what I heard from Mr. Huston so I just hope we will be concerned about that in the future.”

The Board voted 7-0 to approve Resolution 09-07.