Park board president candidates clash
A Zamboni weighs more than 5,000 pounds and, in the case of the race for Springfield Park Board president, that was enough to break a camel’s back.
Park board member Robin Schmidt says that discussion of the district’s need for a new Zamboni last year convinced her to challenge incumbent Leslie Sgro for the board presidency. The ice-finishing machine was going to cost $15,000 to $25,000 more than the district had anticipated, Schmidt recalls, which sparked talk of budget gimmicks and asking for private donations.
“That was kind of the breaking point for me, when I decided to run in December,” says Schmidt, who was elected to the park board in 2013 and is midway through a four-year term. “After two years, our financial position had not improved enough that we had in our budget sufficient funds for basic equipment and maintenance.”
During the past five years, the district, which has an annual budget exceeding $18 million, has seen fiscal issues serious enough to trigger layoffs and a bank loan to meet payroll, Schmidt says. The park district, she says, has grown without regard to longterm costs, adding properties that are now starting to show their age. Other problems, she says, include a series of critical audits between 2008 and 2010 in which auditors said that the park board didn’t review financial records to ensure that money was properly spent. In the meantime, auditors found, operating funds fell into negative balances and district staff spent public money on alcohol and tips as high as 26 percent on food bills.
In 2013, Michael Stratton, then director of the district, resigned when the park board learned that top district officials had received more than $165,000 for unused vacation time since 2010, with Stratton collecting $35,000. More recently, the head of the parks police department has been on paid administrative leave since January. District officials won’t say why. In addition, the park district in recent years canceled a grant for improvements to Barker Park after the state Department of Natural Resources would not accept land at Southwind Park as a match for the state funds and the park district could not come up with money for a match. As a consequence, the Department of Natural Resources prohibited the district from applying for grants for a two-year period that ends on Dec. 31.
“For me, the park board president, the buck stops with her,” Schmidt says. “That person has to show vision for the district, leadership, and has to be responsible for some of the things that have gone wrong over the years that have been very well publicized.”
Sgro, who before now had not been opposed at the polls since winning her seat in 1991, is running on her record.
“I really believe that most people look at their parks and feel positively about them,” Sgro says. “Leadership is about taking the challenges and doing the right thing and getting through them and getting stronger and better. Have we had a few challenges? Of course we have. Have we dealt with them in a straightforward and thorough fashion when they arrive? Yes, we have. I think it’s a great legacy of growth and change, and I’m proud of it.”
Sgro says that finances are turning a corner, with the district on target to finish its current fiscal year in April with $1 million more in cash than it had anticipated.
“We’re getting stronger all the time financially,” Sgro says. “We did go through a period of expansion. The community was expanding. Springfield was expanding. The needs of the community were growing.”
Sgro says that the board has passed a long-term plan for parks and that focusing on existing facilities is a priority. Playground equipment and a splash pad at Comer Cox Park have been replaced, she said, and lighting and plumbing has been added to Dreamland Park. The lagoon has been renovated at Lincoln Park, she said, and new landscaping and playground equipment has been installed at Gehrmann Park.
“We are constantly trying to improve our existing parks,” Sgro says.
Schmidt says that the district needs to assess all of its properties and set priorities for the long term. She dismisses Sgro’s talk of a long-term plan.
“The problem with the long-term plan is, she’s had almost a quarter of a century to execute that,” Schmidt says. “The bottom line is, we have a lot of aging facilities in the Springfield Park District. We need to take a hard look at everything that we have and see what’s being used by people and see what people would like to have and come up with a plan to get us there.”
Without any opponent since 1991, Sgro’s campaign fund swelled to $30,530 over the years. Records available as of March 30 show that she had raised an additional $8,000 since the campaign began and holds a huge fundraising edge over Schmidt, who had raised $9,243, according to available records.
Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].
