Should residents of the Park Ridge Park District get a better shot at a job with the district than non-residents?
One park commissioner believes so.
Robert Leach, who has served on the elected park board since 2017, suggested the board explore a policy stating that a preference should be given to Park Ridge Park District residents when job positions are being filled.
“I’m sure we hire tons of people locally anyway, but I would love for something to be more documented in a policy,” Leach said during the park board’s Feb. 6 meeting.
Leach called his proposal “very similar to what the city of Chicago does,” but did clarify that he is not looking at a residency requirement for all park district employees.
“If we do it right, it really is a win-win for the families and the park district,” Leach told the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate. “People who live or work here would probably be able to give better feedback, better understand issues and help the community when it comes to recreation and park services. I think it’s an overall positive impact.”
Leach said such a policy is also a “way to give back” to families who already pay taxes to the park district. He said he would favor the policy for not only seasonal positions, but employment “across the board” as well.
The policy should provide for exceptions to be made, Leach said, but he added that the board should be told what these exceptions were.
Park Ridge Park District boundaries cover much of the city of Park Ridge, but also a small part of Niles. At the same time, some portions of the city of Park Ridge are located in the Des Plaines or Golf-Maine Park Districts.
Gayle Mountcastle, executive director of the park district, said 19% of current, full-time employees are Park Ridge residents, and 61% of part-time employees are residents. She did not have data for the seasonal workforce, she said.
“We always consider the best-qualified candidate, and often they are from Park Ridge,” Mountcastle said.
Park Board President Harmony Harrington pointed out that the numbers show the park district already hires local residents and questioned the reason behind Leach’s proposed policy.
“Is there a problem you are trying to solve here?” she asked. “Do you think Park Ridge residents are being unfairly discriminated?”
“Not at all,” Leach replied.
“I don’t think there’s anything driving it, but I think from a small-town Indiana background like I have, in those communities people were hired from that town,” he added. “I just think it makes sense that we take care of the families in our town.”
Derke Price, attorney for the Park Ridge Park District, suggested that work could be done to “tweak” park district policy language to “add a preference at the very end for some positions.”
Price suggested that adding a residency requirement for employees would be more difficult because there must be a clear rationale for doing so.
“Otherwise it is an illegal and unconstitutional discrimination of hiring and, particularly, promotion,” he said.
The requirement that certain city of Chicago employees must live within city limits is written into their collectively bargained labor union agreements, Price said.
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
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