Park District Candidate Q&A: Ben Kutscheid

Background: Current park board commissioner (appointed), registered landscape architect and resident living across the street from Sunset Woods Park.

Highland Park Patch: How long have you lived in Highland Park?

Ben Kutscheid: 6 1/2 years.

HP Patch: What was your first experience with the Park District board?

Kutscheid: I'm a registered landscape architect with a focus on parks and recreation. The company I worked for was hired to complete the landscape plans at the Aquatic Park in 1995. I presented the landscape plans in front of the Highland Park park board at that time. 

HP Patch: What do you think the Park District's strongest and weakest program or facility is?

Kutscheid: There is not one facility or program that is the strongest or weakest; all programs and facilities can be improved. The more I learn about the Park District, the more I understand that the Park District is important in many different ways to everybody and that collectively no facility or recreational opportunity is more important than any other.

HP Patch: What do you think makes you best qualified to be a park board commissioner?

Kutscheid: The most important task over the next four years will be the development of the comprehensive plan. This will require a commissioner that listens well and is able to interpret what they hear. In my career, I have been involved in the development of 20 parks community plans throughout the Midwest and the Chicagoland area. I am a good listener and able to synthesize important information, completed 20 successful comprehensive plans, and I study and am engaged in issues affecting park district[s] across the country.   

HP Patch: The Park District came under fire from the community last August because of the pension scandal. How do you think the board handled that situation?

Kutscheid: We, the park board, did three things: (1) We identified the problem by getting input (from the public, other elected officials, IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) and counsel); (2) We changed current practices and policies to prevent this from happening again (requiring board members to sign a form of employee pension impact, a policy that will flag all raises that exceed 10 percent of wage range and several other similar policy and procedure changes; (3) We continue to look at methods of recovering these taxpayer funds.

HP Patch: If you were on the board, what would you have done differently?

Kutscheid: Like everything, I wish we were able to move quicker. I think that this distraction has unfortunately shifted the focus of the Park District away from the mission of providing great recreational facilities, services and programs for the residents.   

HP Patch: What can the park board do to ensure something like what happened last summer never happens again?

Kutscheid: I believe the park board has put quite a bit of thought into the policy and procedure changes as indicated in the item above.  

HP Patch: The Park District is the only governing body to lower its tax levy this year. What do you think of that decision?

Kutscheid: I am a taxpayer and anytime my taxes are lower without affecting services I am better off.  The Park District is without a comprehensive plan.  The plan is something that we will develop and implement in order to understand the upcoming fiscal challenges.

The Park District has a significant reserve but also on the horizon has the development of Rosewood Beach, transfer of the Highland Park Country Club, repair and refurbish many aging buildings and facilities, including a 100-year-old repurposed maintenance facility. I believe that the Park District can continue to reduce its budget and levy but this has to be done with purpose and reason based on a framework of the comprehensive plan, and not using arbitrary numbers and goals.

HP Patch: What would you like to see happen with Rosewood Beach?

Kutscheid: The current Rosewood Beach plan has a focus on the building and not what is important, the beach. The entire site plan design and the building design must focus on the beach and all the beach users. I support the current uses for the building and the site, but not in the current configuration. The Army Corps of Engineers plan to extend the beach, create additional habitat and remove the ugly metal groynes, which gives us the opportunity to revisit the building design.

One exciting opportunity is the potential to pull the building out of the slope, realizing a significant savings to the Park District. Even if building redesign is required, this saving will far surpass any redesign cost. 

HP Patch: What would you like to see happen with the Fort Sheridan preserves?

Kutscheid: The Fort Sheridan preserves is a Lake County Forest Preserve District facility not under any control by the Park District of Highland Park. That said, I would rather not have additional golf competition affecting the local golf market. There has been considerable discussion on the subsidy to Sunset Golf Course. This, I hope, will be addressed in the master plan.

If the golf course were to go out of service for golf, the Park District would still have to maintain a 100-acre park that is currently used for storm-water detention, winter recreation and a natural habitat resource for Highland Park. This would require funding as well.

The question for Sunset Golf Course should be: "Is golf the best use for this 100-acre park and the people of the Park District of Highland Park?"  

HP Patch: Some candidates for City Council and mayor have suggested consolidating services between the Park District and the city. How can the city and Park District work together? How often do you think they should?

Kutscheid: The Park District and city have different missions, but they are generally the same tax base. Any duplication of services should be eliminated if the elimination is a savings.  Coordination between the city, schools and Park District should be seamless when comes to [the] sharing of services, facilities and purchasing of supplies. The government agencies should actively and continually search out ways to work together for the benefit of the taxpayer[s].