The board first reviewed and approved the 2025 annual Tax Levy of $101,965 and the Budget and Appropriations ordinance. Director Karyn Sommers-Buck said the levy hasn’t changed and it’s the same rate they’ve been working with for the past five years. Once approved, they’ll sign the paperwork and she’ll file it with the County Clerk. The board also approved the November 2025 meeting minutes and Treasurer’s Report as presented, with Sommers-Buck noting that the last of three tax payouts from Whiteside and Henry Counties were received.
Reports of Officers
Commissioner Josh Sibley asked for an update on the flagpole, with Sommers-Buck saying the old one was taken and the new one was supposed to arrive soon after, but it’s been delayed due to the snow. There also hasn’t been much interest in the trailer they have to sell.
Sommers-Buck provided the 2026 board meeting schedule, with meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. Holiday hours are posted, with the facility to be closed for Christmas and New Year’s Day but open until noon on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Another Pickleball clinic has been scheduled on Saturday, January 31st. Kids will be out of school on February 6th, so the facility is scheduling a “day off trip” to Malibu Jacks in Bettendorf. “We’re looking at one bus for 3rd-6th graders,” she said of the first trip, with more info to be provided soon.
The Park District will have a Community Appreciation Week Feb. 9-15 with swag giveaways, free classes for the week, and a gift basket raffle as a “thanks to current members and the community for their continued support.”
The facility’s “Night with Santa” on Dec. 16 was well attended, with 50+ kids stopping in, 20 families getting pictures taken, and four pets brought in for photos. “It was busy the whole time. It was a fun night,” said Sommers-Buck. They also handed out items meant for the Reindeer Dash since the annual race was canceled due to the snowstorm.
In an update on the potential School District land swap, she reported that the school’s Building & Grounds Committee met and agreed to get the land surveyed as the first step of the process. Plans for pickleball courts are at a standstill until that’s figured out.
Commissioner Carl Weidel asked about converting the facility’s tennis courts to pickleball courts, with Sommers-Buck saying it’d be possible, though they would have to be positioned north to south and not east to west due to the sun. The basketball courts get more use than the tennis courts, and the school doesn’t have a tennis team needing the courts. “We have options once we get to that point,” Sibley said of the project.
There were no updates for the Park Foundation sub-committee, though they’re working on a date to meet in January.
New Business
The board approved holiday yearly bonuses of $60 for attendants, $30 for class instructors, $20 for lifeguards, $100 for the assistant director, and $200 for the director. They discussed the annual raises on the employee pay scale, with Sommers-Buck saying the lifeguard rate is already set to go up 25 cents a year. For hourly employees, raises used to depend on variables such as shifts, hours, and how long they’ve been employed but “that all went out the window with the Illinois minimum wage increase,” with the current rate at $15 per hour.
Weidel suggested a raise of 40 cents an hour across the board for attendants, or about a 2-½% increase, which was approved by the board. “It’s not really generous, but thoughtful enough to account for the cost-of-living increases,” he said.
The board also voted on a 2-½% increase to the Director’s contract, which was approved in June, to bring her salary to $60,000 even. Sommers-Buck became director in June 2012.
The only other action item to was approve an ordinance for the sale of $125,000 General Obligation Park Bonds, Series 2025, for “the payment of land for parks, for the building, maintaining, improving, and protecting of the same and existing land and facilities of the Park District and for the payment of the expenses incident thereto, providing for the levy of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the principal and interest on said bonds, and authorizing sale of said bonds to Farmers National Bank, Prophetstown” at a 2.9% interest rate.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners will be on Wednesday, January 21st at 7 p.m. at the Park District office.
Snow covered tennis courts on Wednesday, December 17th.
