BETTENDORF, Iowa — Changes to how decisions are made in the Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Department could be just around the corner. One Bettendorf park board member says a change that would save the city $35,000 a year is a bad move for taxpayers.
Elected Park Board Chairman Larry Makoben calls a monthly meeting to order. Right now five men sit on this board.
"We have a combined experience of about 50 years managing parks and recreation in Bettendorf," says current board commissioner Steve Wilger.
They were elected by the people for four-year terms, and are paid for their work on things like Splash Landing, Palmer Hills Golf Course and all the city's parks. But that could soon change.
"It's time for us to make this change, I believe, so I'm pushing the measure forward," says Bettendorf City Administrator Decker Ploehn.
On December 15, 2020, Ploehn will submit his recommendation to city council to replace the elected park board with an advisory board of eight to ten people appointed by the mayor.
"Over the last several years, we've been talking about why we have a need for two elected bodies, the city council and the elected park board," explains Ploehn.
Ploehn says the change would save the city about $35,000 a year, and it would make the decision-making process more efficient by changing monthly meetings into quarterly ones.
But not everyone is in support of this recommendation.
"When I was elected, I promised folks that voted for me I'd be here 'til my term was up," says Wilger.
Wilger has a year left in his four-year term.
Ploehn says it's a challenge to get people to run a campaign to be elected to serve on the board, so having the mayor appoint members would be more inclusive. But Wilger sees elections as a safeguard to citizens.
"The experience the five of us bring to our park and recreation programs would be difficult to lose for the city. We have been working diligently for many years as a park board," says Wilger.
He doesn't want this elected board to move to adjourn.
Ploehn's recommendation will be submitted to city council on December 15th during the scheduled meeting. Public forums will be scheduled for after that. Ploehn says all five current park board members will be offered a seat on the new advisory board if the measure passes. Wilger says if the change happens, he will not accept that position.