Naperville park board keeps tight lid on director hunt

Naperville Park District commissioners are not releasing any information about the finalists they have selected to interview for the long-vacant executive director's job.

Board President Kristen Jungles would not say how many finalists are being interviewed during the weekend of Dec. 15 and 16. She did not know if an offer would be made to one of the finalists by the end of that weekend, either.

Friday, commissioners were presented with 10 candidates' names chosen by the board's search firm. The names were culled from a field of 89 applicants. Several commissioners said they were provided with information on the search firm's picks, but not full resumes. Nor had they received information on applicants passed over by the search firm.

Prior to selecting the search firm, several commissioners said they wanted access to all applications before deciding on a batch of finalists. It is unclear whether that information was ever provided.

The board spent nearly two and a half hours behind closed doors Monday deciding which applicants to interview. Jungles wouldn't say whether all the applicants who will be interviewed were picked by the search firm or whether board members had selected some others the firm had passed over.

She wouldn't explain the board's secrecy surrounding the selections.

"That's the way the board wants it," Jungles said.

Whoever is chosen by the board will be the district's sixth executive director in 12 years. They will replace Barbara Heller, who came to the district in 2004 after the previous director quit amid accusations of financial mismanagement.

Heller resigned in March after clashing with board members over an ill-fated recreation center proposal that crumbled under public protest.