University Park trustees debate park transfer terms, set workshop to revise draft IGA

The University Park Village Board spent its meeting focused on a draft intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that would transfer several village parks and recreation facilities to the newly established University Park Park District, with trustees and residents sharply divided over the agreement’s timing, cost and legal terms.

Mayor Joe Rudez framed the discussion as a response to the referendum voters passed creating the park district and said the IGA under consideration is a working draft intended to allow the district to run programs and maintain parks once levy funds are received. “The referendum passed,” Rudez said. “This thing, it takes away a whole lot of work from the village. … This is a working document. This isn’t etched in stone.”

But trustees and public commenters repeatedly pushed back on specific draft provisions. Trustee Donna Fulcher pointed to language that would convey a list of village properties (including Regal/Bridal Farm, Pine Lake and Craig Park) “for $10” and require the village to insure the park district, its employees and commissioners and to pay attorney fees for two years after any conveyance. “Not only do they want us to give the parks away for $10, they want the village to pay for their insurance for two years,” Fulcher said, calling those terms “very one-sided.”

Multiple residents and trustees described past financial problems in the village and said that history makes the board right to be cautious. One trustee asked for an accounting of the Park District’s funding; a village official said the Park District’s levy will bring in roughly $820,000 and that allocations are expected once county disbursements begin (staff said allocations should start in May–June with further payments later). Trustees also noted the village pays monthly insurance costs (cited during the meeting at about $88,000), and they pressed staff on whether transferring parks would change that liability.

The village attorney told the board the IGA, as drafted, is a “working agreement” in which the effective date would be when the document is signed but the actual conveyance or commencement of duties would occur only once the Park District’s money is in. “If you all were to agree with it as written, the effective date would be the date that it's signed. The commencement date will be … the conveyance date,” the attorney said, noting the agreement can be redrafted to reverse ownership or change insurance and indemnity language.

Several trustees proposed alternatives that would reduce risk to the village, including leasing park property to the Park District with performance requirements rather than deeding it outright. Trustees also requested appraisals for the properties before any permanent transfer and said any conveyance should explicitly protect historic assets (trustees singled out Regal/Bridal Farm as a site that should not be sold or redeveloped).

After extended debate over process and substance — and with a court action pending that questions how the initial Park District board was formed under the Illinois Park District Code — trustees agreed to continue the work in a dedicated workshop. The board approved a motion setting a collaborative workshop for April 15 at 6 p.m.; the motion was moved and seconded and passed by a voice vote with no recorded opposition. The meeting then adjourned.

What’s next: the village will use the workshop to draft revisions, consider alternatives such as leasing, seek clarifying language about insurance and indemnity, and discuss appraisals and timelines tied to Park District levy allocations. Because a court motion challenging the Park District’s initial formation remains pending, several trustees urged the village to ensure any transfer or appointments comply with the Illinois Park District Code before final conveyances.

(Reporting notes: quotes and attributions are drawn from the meeting transcript. The meeting did not record a final conveyance; trustees scheduled a workshop to negotiate and refine the draft agreement.)