Stables decision leads to more questions

I continue to be baffled and frustrated with the Palatine Park District. Members of our community have repeatedly and respectfully asked for an explanation of what appears to be a vastly overinflated estimate for repairs at Palatine Stables.

Expense is the stated reason for the abrupt and not-super-transparent vote to close the stables, yet data from several other sources indicate the repairs would be far less expensive and well within the range of normal upkeep for a profitable and unique Park District program. If the commission’s figures are accurate, the community they are elected to represent at least deserves to see how those figures were arrived at and by whom. The community also deserves to see that our commission procured and vetted multiple bids for the repairs.

The more firmly the commission retreats into silence, the more concerned I am about how they generally do their work. I am a supporter of Palatine Stables and think the commission’s decision was capricious. But even setting that aside, I now question what other areas and programs the commission is managing in this astonishingly murky and irrational way.

Jenny Hulen

Palatine