Marengo, IL Park District Recap: August 27, 2026

The Marengo Park District's interim director told the board Thursday that she has given the district's buildings and grounds supervisor full authority over his own department, a change from an arrangement in which the executive director set the grounds crew's daily priorities.

The board also approved a resolution making the interim director the district's authorized agent with the state pension system and its agent of record with district vendors, approved a July financial report showing a total bank balance of $459,426.75, and held a personnel committee matter to its next meeting. Four of the district's five commissioners were present. Both roll call votes were unanimous.

Buildings and Grounds Goes Back to Its Supervisor

Amanda Damisch, who has been interim director since July 30, told the board she had already made the change and had told staff it was effective immediately. She said she does not have the knowledge to run buildings and grounds the way the supervisor does, that it is his job, and that she had restored his responsibility for it. Her written report to the board names Building and Grounds Supervisor Thomas Lechocki as "now fully empowered to manage daily operations, establish priorities, and direct his team," with the two working together on larger initiatives.

The board president told commissioners that he and Damisch would meet with the district's park foundation next week to reorganize it along similar lines.

Two Priorities, and a Mailer That Will Not Be Printed

Damisch asked the board for feedback on two areas she wants to work on before winter. The first is how the district takes in business. Booking the nature center, reserving a shelter or getting a band into Venue in the Park currently run through three or four separate methods with no single master calendar, which her report calls a source of operational risk and scheduling friction. She described it as friction for customers and said she wants to relieve it.

A commissioner pressed the practical version of the problem: a resident who wants to book a date cannot see what is already taken, and not everything the district schedules lives in the same system. Damisch said a centralized calendar does not currently exist, and agreed it should be visible on the website.

The second is marketing. Her report says the district "currently lacks documented marketing procedures, performance tracking, or a unified communications strategy," which has produced an ad hoc approach across social media, the website, signage and newspaper advertising. As an immediate control, all social media posts and promotional materials now require the director's review and approval before they go out, with Venue in the Park an explicit exception. A fuller strategy is to come back to the board later.

One decision on that front is already made. The district has cancelled its printed fall 2026 program mailer. Damisch told the board the reasoning is in her report and acknowledged it might surprise some members: with the timing of the transition, the mailers would have reached residents too late to bring in fall registrations, and without any way to track what a mailer returns, the printing and postage were hard to justify. Fall programming will be promoted by email, social media and the district website instead. The report describes physical mailers as valuable and the program as paused rather than finished, pending a strategy reset and some way to measure results.

The Basement Is Still Flooding

The district's basement continues to flood after heavy rain, and there have been several incidents in the last few weeks. Damisch told the board she does not think it can be resolved without heavier construction that will cost money, and that she wanted to keep it in front of them rather than let it drift.

Her report lists what is causing it: ground outside the door sitting higher than the window wells, gutters that were not properly installed, HVAC vents in window wells that flood, and drain tile inadequate for the volume of water. Short term fixes have rerouted some drainage away from the building, but the pipe is four inches and the board was told that is not enough.

Commissioners raised two things in response. One asked whether the district's insurance pool could be brought in, noting the district has made very few claims in eight years. Damisch said she would look into it but that the district is not currently taking damage at a level that would support a claim, and that the underlying problem is building construction and drainage choices rather than an insurable event. Another asked about mold, warning that a mold problem could close the building, and noted that the room in question is used by the district's youngest participants. Damisch called it good feedback and said she would follow up. A commissioner raised the possibility of moving those programs elsewhere if it comes to that.

The New Walking Path Is Done, and Needs Work

The walking path is complete and people are using it. It also generated a list of follow up work that the board was told will need attention before winter.

The most urgent is drainage where the old path meets the new one near the pickleball courts. Damisch said that corner will keep washing out without some intervention and has already almost washed toward the woods, and that it is not something the district can go back to the path contractor about, because the drainage there was installed when the venue was built. Two commissioners with construction backgrounds suggested a retaining wall to hold the ground and redirect some water, and raised the possibility of local contractors helping.

The second is the gravel junction where the parking lot meets the path. A catch basin installed there is filling with limestone washing off the path. The board was told the basin sits too low, that it will drain much more slowly by the end of the year if nothing is done, and that the section probably needs a hard surface. Damisch said she will try to handle it with existing staff but that it may cost money.

Beyond that, several sections need reseeding and landscape cleanup, and contractor activity left mud and debris in the wooded areas along the path. Damisch said she has prioritized the reseeding for the grounds team while there is still growing season, and that the debris will be a slower job. Remaining material piles from the former baseball diamond have mostly been removed.

Damisch told the board she did not want any of it to come as a surprise, and framed it as protecting a grant funded investment before it degrades. She also said she was thinking about people using the path with strollers or limited mobility.

Reports Are Getting Longer, and the Board Asked for Numbers

Several commissioners told Damisch they liked the added detail in this month's reports. One asked for something that used to be in the recreation report and has fallen out: participation counts by program. Knowing that a soccer program has twenty four people in it, or that a program did not run because only two signed up, is what tells the board whether to bring something back or plan for more parking. Damisch said she would put the numbers back in and asked whether the board wanted them by season or across seasons. The answer was by season.

Venue in the Park now carries its own information inside the recreation report, which Damisch described as a temporary spot while the season finishes. A commissioner said that is where it belongs and suggested it may eventually stand on its own.

Staff also recommended waiving the entrance fee for the venue's two remaining September events, and commissioners voiced support. A commissioner suggested the district advertise the change, saying the events have a reputation for being expensive.

Around Town

• The board approved Resolution 26-004, naming Damisch the district's authorized agent with the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and its agent of record with district organizations, affiliates and vendors, and revoking prior authorizations. The board president described it as a catch all so the district does not have to pass a new resolution every time another account surfaces. Damisch told the board she cannot take over administration of the district's bonds until it is in place, and expects to have updated bond figures at the next meeting.
• A personnel committee matter was held to the next meeting so that committee members could be present. A commissioner said executive session would have been the route if the board wanted to take it up Thursday, and that the district's policy manual sets no deadline, so there was no reason to rush it.
• Damisch told the board she is still working to regain administrative access to some district accounts, the most pressing being the district's website, where a support ticket has been escalated. Until that is sorted the district cannot make material updates to the site. She said she expects it resolved shortly.
• The July financial report shows $77,893.46 in income against $219,181.32 in expenses, with the expense side including $78,500 in building repairs and improvements. Total bank balance at July 31 was $459,426.75.
• A garbage can is missing from Ridge Park, and a commissioner asked for it back after residents raised it.
• The same commissioner said Girl Scouts have been pulling weeds at a district park and that volunteers should not have to, asking for a routine maintenance check at the outlying parks while attention is concentrated on the main campus.
• Softball field lights installed under a ComEd energy efficiency program are giving trouble, and the district cannot go back to the contractor. The board was told other park districts have had the same problem and that the district can repair the fixtures itself.
• The district is shopping for a new elevator service company, and is looking at whether Marengo organizations with elevators could share the cost of service and inspections.
• A Locust School administrator who has let the district use the school's gym, and who works Saturdays so the district avoids custodial fees, is retiring at the end of this school year. The board wants to thank her by resolution. A successor has been named and Damisch has met with both.
• Damisch attended her first Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association board meeting and said the association is heading into significant turnover of its own. She said the network of neighboring park districts has already been generous with advice.
• There was no correspondence, no public comment, and no unfinished business. The board adjourned at 7:12 p.m.

The district's posted schedule puts board meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Nature Center, 825 Indian Oaks Trail, which would place the next regular meeting on September 24. The district has not posted a September agenda.

Some of what is above comes from Marengo Weekly's own recording of the meeting. The district's minutes for August 27 have not been approved yet.