Park District Referendum Takes Much-Needed Dive

At an Olympia Fields Village board meeting Mar. 28, village trustees and park district officials brainstormed over how to make sure residents voted 'No' on a referendum no one wanted.

The referendum was supposed to allow for a property tax increase of $13.60 per $100,000 in assessed property value, so the park district could pay to have a new athletic facility built in Bicentennial Park. The troubles started when Ali ElSaffar, president of the Cook County Township Assessors Association, revealed Olympia Fields residents would actually have to pay more than three times as much.

That's when damage control went into effect, with park district president Richard J. Pozdol sending out essentially imploring voters not to support the faulty referendum.

The village trustees also discussed sending out automated phone calls and televising a message to residents. The Sergeant Means Park entrance sign was changed to remind residents when and what to vote.

Pozdol called the whole thing a "nightmare."

Election Day the park district president escaped his night terrors, as more than 93 percent of Olympia Fields voters voted "no."

Election judge David Brooks, who worked the Old Village Hall voting site on Governors Highway, said he wasn't asked about the referendum on April 5.

"We've received no questions about the referendum today," Brooks said. "The presentation was made, so I think awareness was very high."