When did the problems start? – Updated 05/11/2012

Every once in a while someone will come up to me and ask a core question regarding the Park Ridge Park District/SSI/Senior Center controversy. 

The question this lady asked was:

“When did the problems start?”

Now, had she asked me the question before January 2012, I would have answered:

The controversy began on January 12, 2011.  That was the Board Meeting, where Boards Attorney asked attending Board Members to defer on the (PRPD/SSI Agreement), absent the full board. 

By the way, you can see that five minute clip at: January 12, 2011 - Special Board Meeting at approximately one minute into the video.

Note: I would have preferred directly displaying a video clip of the quote itself: however, Park Ridge Park District has, for time being, chosen to inconvenience us all, by hiding behind the cloak of “Copyright”.  How silly! Problem for them is, many of my readers will circumvent the ploy by taking the time to look at the original video, so long as they know where on the video to start looking!

Anyway, of course, I would have been wrong!

Apparently, based on Mr. Biagi’s January 3-5, 2012 whale of a tale, the PRPD/SSI/Senior Center problems began much sooner; 18 months by Rick Biagi’s observation:

“For the better part of the last eighteen months, I have witnessed a situation involving the Park Ridge Senior Center spiral completely out of control, for reasons that have totally evaded me up until November of 2011.”

18 months?  Well, that was news to me!  That would have placed the start of the “situation” somewhere around August, 2010. 

So, like the FOIA maven I am, I decided to investigate. 

FOIA – 120313-001

Seems, it all began with Raymond!

I first started hearing there was a “situation” between PRPD and Senior Services, Inc. (SSI) in August 2010. 

One of the towns old-timers, “Mac” McLendon, former President of SSI and long-time Park Ridge resident, business leader and Senior Center Member, expressed his concern with the way the new PRPD/SSI contract negotiations were going. 

Mac said, SSI was being asked to pay the salaries for Park District employees – something they could not do, even had they wanted to.  And also told me of SSI’s inability to meet with or talk directly to, Ray Ochromowicz.  Said he couldn’t understand why senior negotiators were getting stonewalled? 

In all past contract negotiations, SSI negotiated directly with PRPD’s Executive Director.  Now, Mac said, they were talking to subordinates; non-decision-makers.

I tried a couple times, unsuccessfully, to call Mr. “O”, which, included leaving a message.  When that didn’t work, I decided to get Ray’s attention the old fashion way:  by  presenting him with three FOIA requests. 

The next morning I received a call from Board’s Attorney, and as they say, the rest is history.

Now, the McLendon story and Mr. Biagi’s whale of a tale delemma had one thing in common; they both referenced August, 2010.

On January 19, 2012 I received a batch of  FOIA’d documents and found in them, what I was looking for.

Please read the entire email-string, but pay particular attention to Mr. Ochromowicz’s August 26, 2010 9:03 AM email to Teresa Grodsky. Note: for your convenience, I have also recreated, in date/time order, the entire Grodsky/Ocromowicz email-string below.

Emails Between Ray Ochromowicz and Teresa Grodsky

Email-String in Date/Time Order

Part 1 of 3

“From: Teresa Grodsky To: Ray Ochromowicz

Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 8:18 AM

Subject: What you missed at todays meeting….

Thank you! I feel a little guilty as I realize I have not performed on behalf of the Senior Center as we expected. I have done my best, but I realize from the continued remarks by many, that we are still the problem. I will continue to work on this. I think the contract will be finished today. Next year will be different. We are going to have to make a number of adjustments. But, I realize that this is how it is. Teresa”

Part 2 of 3

“From: Ray Ochromowicz To: Teresa Grodsky

Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 9:03 AM

Subject: What you missed at todays meeting….

Teresa, Someday, we should meet for coffee and talk.  No one is the problem.  The problem or, better, the challenge, is that there are operations that are increasingly draining the District’s budget.  Like Senior Services and everyone else, our revenue streams are limited to taxes and fees…and taxes are capped.  Somebody has to pay the costs for services.  I’m simply trying to shift more of the costs to those who benefit from the service. Historically, Senior services, swimming pools, batting cages have been receiving a larger and larger subsidy.  The money is not coming from taxes as those funds are capped.  It’s been coming from individuals who pay to use the ice arena and Community Center.  We can’t increase those memberships to support these other services and facilities.  If we don’t make appropriate adjustments in these areas now, within three years we will be in the dire financial condition the City and school District are currently in. So, we have to make some adjustments. My strategy was to throw a grenade into the status quo way of doing things.  That’s why 3 to 4 months ago, I gave a deadline to have the Senior Services agreement renegotiated by August, so we could budget appropriately for 2011.  I suggested the radical Senior Services consume 99% of the full time staff time so they should pay 100% of their salaries and wages.  I was hoping that would set people aflame.  I was hoping it would cause them to not only think outside the box but drop the box and think of radically new approaches.  I was hoping they’d spend the next few months research best practices from around the country, foundations, other senior centers and non-profits, etc, to come back with a unique counter proposal that would dramatically lower the District’s subsidy. None of that happened.  I periodically inquired about the status of the agreement while growing increasingly concerned about the outcome.  But, I did not interfere.  I let appropriate channels do their thing. What came back to me did not accomplish the objective.  Nothing new, different or radical.  Nothing that substantially changed the bottom line or would lead us to a better bottom line in the future. I guess my long winded points are: You are on a team that overall has outperformed expectations in terms of quality, efficiency, finances and pulling together as a team. The Board and I recognize, applaud and are rewarding that. Feel good about it. Celebrate! Lesson learned about my expectation for the renewal of the Senior Services agreement. Obviously, since we have never talked directly about this matter there was a breakdown somewhere? It’s not an individual or a “we” that is the problem. The problem is the outcome. We, the District, need a better outcome. It’s required to avoid financial disaster in three years. Change isn’t always easy.  The test is being able to look back three years from now and see that the action we took was consistent with the District’s mission and it’s long term best interest. All that said, which probably should have been spoken not written, HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY.  Keep the peace over there.  Haven’t heard of any issues for months on end.  If there were issues, you must have been handling them well.”

Part 3 of 3

“From: Teresa Grodsky To: Ray Ochromowicz

Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 9:21 AM

Subject: What you missed at todays meeting….

Thank you. I don’t know if you realize that over the past year, the Senior Center has been pointed at continually as a problem. I appreciate that you realize it is a good program, but that is NEVER acknowledged by the board. Truthfully, the only person that acknowledges the value of the program is Lori…And Steve Vile. It is discouraging. Besides being criticized, once again NEVER did anyone try to find out about the actual program, its value. It has been all about $$. That is important. But, always, and you are a recreation person, you know that quality is the most important thing. The Senior Center has that. It will be financially better in the new year. I am disturbed by this entire process, the lack of communication, the constant criticism without any chance to explain. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. I am glad the contract is almost done. We all need to move on. I wish I had a chance to talk and explain before this exploded. I am taking a trip today with the seniors. A great day for our participants is our goal and I will make sure it happens for them. Teresa”

Once again, I’ve decided to withhold my many comments for a few days, to give you all a chance to weigh-in with your observations.

As always, just my opinion.