MM_050417

4 | May 4, 2017 | The Mokena Messenger news
mokenamessenger.com
Mokena Community Park District Board of Commissioners
New commissioners sworn in prior to meeting
Tim Carroll, Editor
The Mokena Community
Park District Board of Commissioners
has four new
commissioners.
Jeff Apel, Lana Graser,
Robert Lindbloom and John
Olivieri took their oaths
of office prior to the board
meeting Tuesday, April 25,
at the Oaks Recreation &
Fitness Center. The four new
commissioners ran as a slate
in the April 4 Consolidated
Election.
After being sworn in, the
board selected new executive
board members. Graser
was elected president by a
6-0 vote, with former board
Vice President George
McJimpsey abstaining;
Olivieri was elected vice
president by a 6-1 vote, with
McJimpsey voting against
the nomination; Dennis
Bagdon was elected the secretary
by a 6-1 vote, with
McJimpsey voting nay; and
commissioners voted unanimously
to elect Lindbloom
the new board treasurer.
McJimpsey declined to
comment on his abstention
and nay votes.
Lindbloom said he was
looking forward to being a
commissioner and treasurer
again.
“I was treasurer when I
was on the board previously,
and I understand the finances,”
Lindbloom said. “... I’m
looking forward to educating
the new board members.”
Olivieri said his election
to the executive board as
vice president would allow
him the opportunity to increase
transparency.
“Transparency is a big issue
with me, and protecting
the Mokena Park District’s
money like it’s my own is
my second [priority],” he
said.
“I’m just happy to serve,”
Bagdon said of his election
to the office of secretary.
New attorney to be hired
Anthony Bruozas, who had
served as the park district’s
attorney for eight months,
submitted a letter of resignation
effective April 21.
The resignation was to exclude
active litigation, mediation
and arbitration until the
board hires a new attorney
and motions for substitution
are approved by the courts,
Executive Director Mike Selep
said during the meeting.
After executive session,
Commissioner Kevin Brogan
motioned to release
Bruozas from all legal duties
and obligations to the park
district immediately. The
motion passed by a 6-1 vote.
McJimpsey voted against
dismissing Bruozas from his
duties immediately.
As of Monday, May 1,
Bruozas did not respond to a
request for comment.
There is to be a status
hearing May 4 in Will County
Circuit Court in litigation
the park district brought
against Olivieri Brothers
Inc. regarding the draining
of water from tennis courts
at Fox Ridge Park. Selep
said he did not know who
would be representing the
park district at that time,
but he said he and the board
were in the process of finding
representation.
“We’re in the midst of
securing legal counsel right
now,” Selep said April 27.
Selep said that a special
meeting and board vote
would not be required to hire
an attorney on an interim basis.
“I’ve been asked to seek
legal counsel, and once I
have an option, I will be
talking with the board to finalize
that decision ... on an
interim basis,” he said.
Round it up
A brief recap of action and discussion at the April 25
meeting of the Mokena Community Park District Board
of Commissioners
• Superintendent of Recreation Mary Beth Windberg
announced that free family passes to the Yunker Farm
Splash Park are available at The Oaks Recreation &
Fitness Center and the park district’s Administrative
Center to park district residents. They are to be
available until June 4, and they include admission
for up to four children who reside with the person
requesting the pass.
Selep clarified that hiring
an attorney on a regular
basis would require a board
vote.
Bill payment amended
While discussing the
consent agenda, Bagdon requested
that the approval of
the payment of bills exclude
Bruozas’ bill and Oaks and
Yunker Farm expansion project
manager Henry Brothers
Co.’s bill, until the board can
review the amounts.
Bagdon also moved to
exclude paying the bills of
Building Technology Consultants
and The Kenrich
Group. Selep said Building
Technology and The Kenrich
Group are two consultants
hired by the park
district to provide expert
reports used in litigation and
arbitration brought against
Olivieri Brothers, the original
architect for The Oaks
and Yunker Farm project.
McJimpsey questioned the
exclusions.
“If the last board approved
these things, and they’re
in the record that they’ve
been approved, how can
you say you don’t want to
pay these people that have
already done their work?”
McJimpsey asked.
Olivieri said that the board
had previously only approved
hiring them.
“We’re not questioning
the work that they’ve done,”
Olivieri told McJimpsey.
“We’re questioning the
amount we’re being billed.
You did not approve the exact
amount.”
Commissioners voted 6-1
to approve the consent agenda,
which included the payment
of bills minus the four
bills noted, until they could
be further reviewed, which
commissioners said would
take place at a special meeting
May 9.
McJimpsey voted against
the measure.
Bagdon said after the
meeting he proposed holding
off on paying the specific
bills because the board
required more information
about the work they performed.
He said Selep would
provide all the necessary information
at the May 9 special
meeting.
Expansion update
Joe Bartkus, of Henry
Brothers, updated the board
on the progress of the expansion
of The Oaks Recreation
& Fitness Center and Yunker
Farm.
After the updates, Olivieri
asked about a schedule
and completion date for the
project. Bartkus said that,
pending a few variables,
Henry Brothers anticipates
Mike Selep (far left) re-enacts the swearing in of new
Mokena Community Park District Board of Commissioners
members (left to right) Jeff Apel, Lana Graser, Robert
Lindbloom and John Olivieri for the public April 25 at The
Oaks Recreation & Fitness Center.
Tim Carroll/22nd Century Media
the projects to be completed
June 1.
Olivieri asked why the
park district was paying the
current architect on the project,
SPM Architects, Inc., to
complete a project schedule
when it is in Henry Brothers’
contract to do so.
“We do do a schedule, and
we discuss it at weekly job
meetings,” Bartkus said.
Olivieri asked why the
board was not provided the
schedule.
“There has not been a request
to have it at one meeting,”
Bartkus said. “I’ve
been doing my updates since
the beginning of the project,
[and] I’ve never been
asked.”
McJimpsey noted that one
of the reasons for delays in
the project was a complication
with the slab drying for
the gym floor to be installed.
Previously, board members
had voted to reduce the
thickness of the slab from 6
inches to 4 ½ inches in the
hopes that it would dry more
quickly.
One of the change requests
submitted at the meeting
was for a moisture mitigation
system to decrease the
amount of time it would take
the slab to dry.
Scott Piper, vice president
of SPM Architects, said
there was a slim chance that
the moisture mitigation system
would not be necessary.
Olivieri said that opening
the building a couple months
early may not be worth
the cost of the moisture
mitigation system, which
was estimated to be either
$44,298.20 or $70,956.60,
depending on the technique
used.
“The biggest rationale
for it is that we can have
the construction cease [and]
not incur costs with the construction,”
Selep said.
Olivieri said that, based on
the Henry Brothers contract
he had seen, there was no
monthly fee, so there would
be no extra cost incurred if
the construction period were
extended.
Lindbloom asked about
standards for the slab drying
to provide an estimate
for how long it would take,
but Piper said that in the last
10 years Environmental Pro-
Please see MCPD, 11