Villa Park trustees reject new software

Villa Park residents may encounter some glitches when registering for programs in the future.

Trustees this week tentatively rejected a plan to spend $28,675 on a new computer and software to replace an outdated program that has been encountering problems in recent months.

Unless most board members have a change of heart, recreation-department officials are expected to stop using their existing computer system and start documenting registrations on paper.

That could leave customers waiting as village staff write down information. It also could take days for residents to find out if a program they or their children sign up for has room.

Carrie Karl, superintendent of recreation, says she's can't estimate how much it would cost in staff time to do everything manually.

"It's not going to shut down the recreation department … but it's not going to run as smoothly as it should," Karl said. "It would be taking quite a step backward."

The board still must take a formal vote during an upcoming meeting on the measure.

Trustees Tom Cullerton and Dave Hegland this week were the only ones who voiced support for the technology upgrade, which would not only fix the old system's problems but let residents register for programs online.

Hegland, a software-configuration manager, said he's concerned because the existing software is causing accounting problems.

In recent months, village employees have had to double-check information manually, including a daily financial report that hasn't been balancing for the past two months, officials said.

"You can keep running it," Hegland said. "But at some point, you end up stuck and you can't fix it and it affects your business."

Still, five trustees voted against the expense. Some cited looming budgetary shortfalls in other areas caused by autumn storm cleanups, unexpected high road-salt costs and snowplowing, and police overtime costs for unusually high criminal activity.

"It's very difficult to continue spending knowing you don't have it (the money) and you're in the red," Trustee Jeff Blankensop said.

Trustee Al Bulthius agreed.

"I see some real budgetary problems coming," he said.

In the meantime, officials said they have had trouble finding technical support for the existing computer program. The software is so old that parks and recreation staff have been unable to find a vendor willing to handle the problems.