It's Official: Park Board Votes to Make Peck Executive Director

Update on June 4, 2013: Peck's three-year contract, which has since been posted to the park district website, includes a $110,000 salary to start. The park district also agreed to reimburse Peck for business expenses, and to pay for tuition and fees for continuing education related to his new position. Click here to view the full contract.

If he decides to sign it, village trustee Garrett Peck now has a contract to become the permanent Plainfield Park District executive director.

• Sign up for the Plainfield Patch newsletter
• Like Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

The man originally hired for the job — former Superintendent of Planning Cameron Bettin — received a demotion on Tuesday as the park district board of commissioners voted to amend his contract to make him assistant executive director.

Bettin, who was not present at a special park board meeting on Tuesday night, was originally slated to take over for retiring Executive Director Greg Bott on July 1. 

Now, that’s the day Peck is slated to take the reins. “I’m eager to go over the contents of [my contract],” Peck said Tuesday night following the board’s 3-2 vote to make him the director.

Board president Peter Hurtado joined newly elected commissioners Janet Silosky and Peter Steinys in voting in favor of executing a contract for Peck, while Mary Kay Ludemann and Larry Newton voted no.

Hurtado and attorney Matt Campbell declined to release details of Peck’s contract on Tuesday, saying Campbell could amend the pact before it is signed. Campbell said the document could be released by next week.

Ludemann and Newton, who have been vocal opponents of the decision to make Peck the executive director, had little to say after casting their no votes. "I've already expressed my opinion," said Newton. Ludemann declined to comment.

Village trustee asked to leave during heated public comment

Tuesday's special meeting, which had originally been scheduled for May 22, drew a crowd that filled the room past capacity. Some residents had to be asked to leave the boardroom, and stood in the hallway as they strained to hear the proceedings.

Hurtado declined to allow several residents to speak during public comment on the grounds that their names were not on a signup sheet that had been placed in the hallway prior to the meeting.

He did offer to allow Peck’s village board colleague Jim Racich one minute to speak, compared with the three minutes that residents who’d signed the sheet were given.

Racich, who said he took his seat in the boardroom before he became aware of the signup sheet, declined the one-minute offer, but attempted to speak anyway — prompting Hurtado to ask him to leave.

“This is the democratic process — you’re seeing it,” Racich said as he voluntarily left the boardroom. “It’s not nepotism, it’s cronyism,” Racich said of Peck’s hiring. Deb Bostjancic, who organized a May 22 protest of the park board’s recent decisions, was dismayed that the board did not make changes to accommodate the large crowd. 

"Several people asked for a larger space,” she said. “I’m disappointed that you didn’t take this to a bigger site. I’m also disappointed that it seems like it’s three against two,” Bostjancic added, alluding to the fact that the board majority of Silosky, Steinys and Hurtado have made big changes since the new board members were sworn in on May 8.

Former park board president Michelle Kelly spoke out regarding statements Hurtado made in the press saying changes at the park board were needed to prevent a tax hike and increase fiscal responsibility. Last week, the park district posted all employee salaries and compensation to the park district website.

“It’s a lean district,” Kelly said. “I looked at those salaries that you all posted online and I didn’t see anything out of line. I ask you, where are we going to cut? Are we going to cut lifeguards at the pool? … Do you all want to be sued because you didn’t do the right thing and you cut the wrong thing?” Kelly said she also feared the recent changes will have a negative impact on staff.

“You’re scaring staff,” she said, adding she wonders who would replace staffers who opted to leave the park district. “Who are you going to attract?”

Park district resident Craig Spangler questioned why the changes were made so quickly, pointing out that Silosky and Steinys were sworn in on May 8. A day later, a May 11 special meeting was announced. It was at the May 11 meeting that the board voted to hire Peck following 90 minutes in closed session.

“How can you possibly in 90 minutes absorb [enough] … to make a decision?,” he said. “In 90 minutes you ate apart an $11 million budget?” 

Peck says he'll 'evaluate' village board role

Peck, who started his new role on May 15, said he’s already been working closely with Bettin.

“We’re working well together,” he said, adding they have been meeting to discuss the park district budget. “Cameron and I have a great working relationship.”

Peck said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll sign the contract to become the permanent executive director — or what that will mean for his role on the village board. "Truly, I don't have an answer for you," Peck told Patch following Tuesday's meeting.

After losing a bid for the Illinois Senate, Peck was re-elected to a second term on the village board in April.

“I was elected to do a job,” Peck said, adding he will have to evaluate whether his role with the park district will significantly impact that job. “If I’m abstaining [from votes] every two or three meetings, … if it becomes cumbersome, I’ll evaluate,” Peck said. He said he will abstain from votes involving the park district, including intergovernmental agreements and land acquisition.

Asked about the backlash he’s faced from residents unhappy with his new job, Peck said he spoke with several of the protesters who gathered outside the park district offices last week. “I handle criticism well,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with this for years. I dealt with the TV commercials … that were pointing out things they perceived as negative about me,” Peck said of his Senate campaign.

Of the protesters who showed up for the May 22 demonstration, Peck said three of them took him up on his offer to meet with them one-on-one. “I’d have to say, two of the three left still heavily disagreeing with me,” he said. Of the third — who still said he believed Peck is unqualified for the job, he noted — Peck said, “We had a better understanding of each other and a mutual respect.”

Peck did take aim at the organizers of the May 22 protest. “They organizers didn’t come meet with me,” he said, accusing them of “creating public hysteria and a charade in the media.”