Goose Gangs, Budget Bumps and Gates of Wood: The Park District Rundown

Has a gaggle of geese ravaged your neighborhood park? Is action needed?

Tom Mahoney, commissioner for the Tinley Park Park District, told his fellow district officials on Wednesday that geese, about 90 strong, have swarmed upon the south end of Tharp Park, showing up in the morning and then returning in the evening.

Mahoney said his neighbors were prepared to sign petitions urging the board to do something about it before they asked him to step in.

"It is a major problem, and my neighbors are livid, as well as I," he said.

Besides being loud in the morning, the geese pose a hazard to kids who cross the park to board their morning school bus and to the grass, which is beginning to turn brown, he said.

"The grass won't be green this year," he warned.

Sometimes, Mahoney added, about a dozen of the birds can be found congregating listlessly in the middle of the road.

Kiwanis Park, John Curran, director of Parks and Recreation, told the board had a similar problem until the park district hired a company to chase the geese away with trained border collies. It cost $3,000, he said.

Craig Rathke, superintendent of parks, told Mahoney this is the time of year that the birds are migrating back north, causing the influx.

"In another month or two you might not see them," he said. "You'll only going to see the local birds."

Rathke and park foreman Ryan Veldman said they would look into the problem, noting that it should cost less to remove the birds this time around because there's less of them.

New Year, Bigger Budget

At approximately $11.7 million, expected expenses rose 1.6 percent for the Tinley Park Park District's 2011-2012 fiscal year budget. 

The operating budget stands at approximately $8.9 million, a 9.1 percent increase from last year. Notable increases in this portion of the budget can be attributed to a 35.2 percent rise in liability insurance—the result of new regular and fully handicap-accessible playground equipment. Co-pays also increased.

Site improvements at the Landmark Museum and VVAC rose, as did—preliminary—capital improvements to the new fitness center and water park. A third slide is in the works. Increases in the village's water rate were off-set by decreases in heat bills.

The budget was approved unanimously and without discussion.

The new fiscal year starts March 1, 2011, and marks the third year of a three-year bond sale designated for capital improvements.

McCarthy Park Landscaping

By changing the proposed gateway over McCarthy Park from metal to wood, the board of commissioners has saved the park district $1,600.

The entire landscaping project has been budgeted at about $19,000, Mahoney said. It starts in mid-April, when the weather improves, and is expected to take 3 to 4 weeks to complete.

In other district board news, the election and appointment of board officers was postponed until the next meeting.