The Kemnitz Trust Affair…

The Kemnitz Trust Affair started with the passing of Betty Kemnitz on November 18, 2008. 

Betty, had been a long-time member of the Park Ridge Senior Center, (not to be confused with the NEW Park Ridge Park District Senior Center – PRPDSC), and apparently:

• felt strongly enough about the mission of that organization
• and well enough about her experience as a PRSS member,
• and knowing the vital need for finances to sustain PRSC activities in the future,

chose to bequest some $330,000, which included monies derived from the sale of her home at: 8053 N. Prospect Avenue, Niles, IL 60714.

And to assure the proper dispersal and use of those funds, Betty chose her friend and long-time PRPD employee, Teresa Grodsky; then Senior Center Manager, as trustee.

It’s Over – It’s Not Over – Nothings Is As It Seems To Be

Last weekend we learned from Park Ridge Advocate’s own Jenifer Johnson, the Park Ridge Park District Board was calling it quits; they had had enough, and Park Board Officials were offering to give up on their on-going attempt to acquire the Kemnitz Trust money by force.

Park Ridge Park District Officials sent out this press release.

At first glance, it sure looks like they’ve thrown in the towel.

Well, not so fast there Sport!

Over the last 19 months, I’ve come to be wary of those quick, out of the blue actions initiated by the Biagi/Wynn-Ryan lead PRPD Park Board.

So, I waited until a copy of the actual Settlement Offer came my way, before commenting. 

For your entertainment pleasure, the PRPD’s Settlement Offer.

Take a look at this paragraph from page 2.

“Public service” my eye! - It was never their money!

PRPD Board Attorney Mr. Hoffman is asking for what is known as a "general release" of any and all claims seniors may have against the Park District in return for the District giving up their claim to the Kemnitz funds. General Release definition press here! Based on that definition and my discussion with a couple legal eagles, this very broad release, as I understand it, would basically mean that Senior Services, Inc. and Senior Senate would give up their rights for redress against PRPD for things that happened up to the date of the signing.  I suspect that includes all court and attorneys fees, former unfulfilled contractual matters, etc.

No attorney in their right mind would let their client enter into an agreement containing that deal-breaking clause!

Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if the response from SSI & Senior Senate didn’t mimic those of General Anthony Clement, the US Army general who commanded the 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, when confronted by a German surrender ultimatum:

“NUTS!”

More Public Relations bunk?  More smoke-and-mirrors?

Finally

The Park Ridge Park District stated in its Press Release:

“It would rather see the bequest funds spent on the senior citizens of Park Ridge, whether it is at the Park District Senior Center or not.”

Clearly, holding the Kemnitz Trust funds hostage in this way, does not, at least to me, seem to be the best or most direct direct path toward accomplishing that goal! And I don’t think the Commissioner who put forth the motion to end this silly, unwise and costly Park Ridge Park District misadventure, is very happy today with the result of his efforts! 

Of course, unless it’s all a charade!

So, what do you think?

As always, it’s just my opinion.

20,250+ Views…

The View Counter

On January 18, 2012 I wrote the following:

“The view counter has just passed the 10,200 view mark. In my opinion, that’s 10,165 more views than this pathetic, year-long, Board-created and Board-perpetuated saga should have ever generated! Board’s forced retirement of Ms. Grodsky and Mr. Biagi’s recent adventure in document leaking, added almost 4,000 additional views to this site over the last six or so weeks alone.”

That post was 160 days ago.   

Can you believe it?  Still no resolution folks.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

“…we are not in possession of any corporate records for SSI.”

Or, they wonder why so many Park Ridge Senior Center members no longer trust Park Ridge Park District leaders.

I received an interesting email from Senior Services, Inc.’s (SSI) Sandee Main discussing requested Senior Services, Inc. corporate records.  Sandee, I’ve been told, recently retrieved detail Board Attorney billing records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  There, she found the four curious entries presented below.

Here’s the story!

On October 25, 2011 Ms. Main sent the following emailed text to Teresa Grodsky with a Cc: to Gayle Mountcastle. 

Subject: PRSS corporate records. 

The emailed text read in part:

Note: Removed unrelated text and adjusted the formatting for better readability. (Ed.)

“Because it is three weeks since I asked for the records of PRSS, which are stored at the building, are we or are we not going to be allowed to remove those records? I copied Gayle as she seems to be the only one sanctioned to make such decisions. Perhaps that was one of those "loose ends" referred to in the PD statement of policy to be addressed by management…”

At this point, it appears Ms. Mountcastle communicated with PRPD’s Attorney and on October 26th, the following attorney actions were initiated. 

Source: Detail entry from Board Attorney billing to PRPD for legal services rendered, October, 2011:

That same day, Ms. Mountcastle responded to Ms. Main’s request as follows:                                                                                                                            

“Sandee – After discussing this with Teresa and upon review, we are not in possession of any corporate records for SSI. Thank you.”

Now, as you can see, the response from Ms. Mountcastle was not targeted toward answering the question.  Ms. Main was asking “for the records of PRSS” not just the corporate records, but known reference materials, including purchase receipts for SSI purchased furnishings and equipment, documents widely known to have been stored in Teresa’s office for reference purposes.

I bet it was a real shocker to Ms. Main when she discovered this February 9, 2012 entry on Board Attorney’s detail bills.

So, it appears this Board has created another credibility problem.

Now, I know PRPD officials could easily say, the stuff inside the box was ---- cookbooks!

Yea, right!

Let’s see: $200.00/hr. attorney picks up worthless box of cookbooks for what: a 1.20 hour - $240.00 service charge?  Even with this group, I would find that one hard to believe. 

So, what valuable SSI material did Boards Attorney pick up for review and/or safe keeping?  

Anyway, I know Ms. Main and other Seniors are still surprised and angered by this type of activity. 

Having retrieved and viewed quite a few documents under FOIA myself, I no longer tend toward surprise or anger, only constant, immense disappointment!

What do you think?

Of course, it’s only my opinion!

Seniors Looking For A New Home…

Park Ridge’s Senior Center (PRSC) - Senior Senate Leaders, (not to be confused with PRPD’s recently announced hand-picked tell-us-what-we-want-to-hear advisory committee), took their first official step toward finding a new home by sending to their constituents, a three page letter-q&a-questionnaire.

Letter-Q&A-Questionnaire

Park Ridge Park District’s recent Board decisions to take by force from seniors, the $330,000 disputed Kemnitz Trust, and their April 19th disenfranchisement of PRSC’s Senior Senate, have removed all doubts for Senior Center members who will be in charge of the Senior Center.

Now, before PRPD groupies go off the deep end about the “Senior Center” being Park Ridge Park District property, let me save them the trouble. 

Yes – for the umpteenth time, we all acknowledge PRPD’s ownership of a building called the “Park Ridge Senior Center”.

Seniors, and by the way, professionals operating Senior Centers, when they talk about senior centers, are talking about the people who participate in Senior Center activities, no matter the name of the building.

So, one last time for you holdouts: a Senior Center is people.  And these people; these taxpayers, have had it!

As always, it’s just my opinion.

Ecstasy of Gold…

Park Ridge Park Board Attorney, on behalf of the Wynn-Ryan/Biagi PRPD Board, continues to pursue the Betty Kemnitz trust money, looking over every metaphysical grave marker as they do so. 

Watching from the sidelines, I’m reminded of Tuco Ramirez (The Ugly) in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Take a look at the clip below.

I think readers familiar with this particular twist in the on-going PRPD/SSI/Senior Center saga, will know what I mean.

Too bad the late Arch Stanton, unlike the late Betty Kemnitz, didn’t have watchful seniors protecting his gold!

Of course, that’s just my opinion!

Once Upon A Time In Park Ridge…

Morricone, Rigacci and Monday!

Sometimes, PRPD’s attempt to acquire a fist full of senior’s dollars even gets to me.  When it does, I remember there’s not only ugly and bad, but good in the world.  One of the Good is Morricone.

Note: Attach your best speakers/headphones!  

First, there is sky.

And then there’s the sea.

Finally, Ennio & Susanna for a few minutes more!

Next weeks ecstasy of gold blog will come soon enough!

Just my opinion!

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.