Plainfield Park District Board Officer Election Cycle Amended

Plainfield Park District commissioners voted Tuesday to change the election cycle for park board officers.

Now, a new president and vice president will be elected every year, instead of every two years.

That means that in May, the board could vote to replace president Peter Hurtado and vice president Janet Silosky, whose terms as board officers end May 6.

• Also read: Plainfield Park Board Begins Search for New Executive Director 

Another 90 days for Hitchcock

A Naperville-based consulting firm hired to handle the workload of the now-defunct planning department will keep the job for at least 90 days.

Hitchcock design was brought on board in December after former Superintendent of Planning Cameron Bettin and Landscape Architect James Less resigned. Then-Executive Director Garrett Peck, who has also since resigned, at the time said he would not replace the department.

But that could change. On Tuesday, park board members reached a consensus to keep Hitchcock on for another 90 days. The firm's future with the park district after that is unclear.

“It’s obvious we need a planning department,” commissioner Mary Kay Ludemann said. “We cannot do without one.”

Hitchcock will remain on board to continue planning work on three projects: The DuPage River trail, the DuPage River trail bridge and the construction of an emergency trail for first responders at Eaton Preserve.

“We can’t shelve these projects — they have to be addressed,” Ludemann said, but noted, “I cannot guarantee what’s going to happen in 90 days.”

• Related: Plainfield Park Official: Bring Back Planning Department

“I’m not really a planner,” Interim Executive Director Gene Coldwater said Tuesday, adding that the three projects “would be extended quite a bit” if the district cancelled Hitchcock’s contract.