St. John considers park board re-establishment
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTen months after the St. John Park Board was disbanded amid accusations of dysfunction and lack of oversight, it appears the board may be returning, according to our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana. The St. John Town Council voted 3-2 last April to dissolve the board and replace it with an advisory panel.
“My concerns with the Park Board started last year when they started working on some of the bigger projects. My ideas were kind of dismissed, and I was disappointed with that,” said former Council President Gerald Swets. “We [the Town Council] were getting no information on what was happening with the Park Board, we did not know about projects until they were completed.”
As part of the kerfuffle last spring, Swets replaced Councilmen Wayne Pondinas with Councilman Mike Aurelio as the park board’s council liaison. Pondinas was one of the “no” votes against the disbandment.
According to the publication, once Aurelio took over, disagreements about what his role should be permeated into board meetings.
The Times reports the town council is considering an ordinance that would re-establish the park board. The council approved the first reading of the legislation with a vote of 4-1. The publication says Pondinas, who voted against the original disbanding, was the sole no vote to re-establish the park board.
The ordinance will be voted on again during a future town council meeting.
Click here to access the article from The Times of Northwest Indiana.