Although Maryville's trustees passed a resolution asking to be removed from the Collinsville Area Recreation District, the process is more complicated.
Under Illinois state law, a petition containing the signatures of more than half of the homeowners within the area that wants to be disconnected must be certified by the county and presented to the CARD board of commissioners before they have to consider the request. At least one Illinois municipality has tried to remove itself from a park district, but the effort was unsuccessful.
At the November recreation district board meeting, Maryville Mayor Larry Gulledge read the resolution asking that the village be deannexed. All six of the village's trustees were also at the meeting. The recreation district's board did not respond to the request at the meeting.
Gulledge said the village is prepared for that next step.
"We have a number of people ready to go door-to-door with the petition or referendum," Gulledge said.
Maryville's board unanimously voted to approve a resolution to request the disconnection at its November meeting. The resolution cites the recreation district's financial practices and lack of attention to the recreation needs of Maryville citizens as the reason for the request.
Under the state law, if the request is granted the village would still be liable — and residents would continue to be taxed — for the debt accumulated up until disconnection. Gulledge said he is aware of that financial liability.
"We know Maryville has a liability with bond indebtedness. There's a park that's in Maryville that belongs to CARD — the new Pleasant Ridge Park," Gulledge said. "Hopefully we'll be able to have a sit-down period with members of the commission or their legal staff. Whatever it is, Maryville is willing to meet with them to see what we can work out."
Maryville is not the only Illinois village that has attempted to disconnect from a park district. The village of Sherman tried to deannex from the Springfield Park District in 2007. Brad Welker, a member of the Friends of Sherman Parks Committee, said the village was seeking to be removed for reasons similar to Maryville. He said one-third of the village is part of the Springfield district but there are no parks in the village and the citizens were opposed to being taxed by the recreation district.
"Basically we presented the petition to them and they refused to do anything," Welker said. "They wanted to keep our tax dollars. That's what they basically told us."
Welker said the committee's next move would have been to seek legal action, but the group of 20-30 volunteers didn't have the resources.
"We can take them to court, but it was a citizen movement so there wasn't any money," Welker said. "So right now, we're not really doing anything with it."
CARD Executive Director Mark Badasch, who is retiring next month, would not comment on his position on granting Maryville's request. He said that is ultimately up to the five-member board of commissioners.
Andrew Carruthers is the only commissioner who lives in Maryville. If the disconnection is successful, he will no longer be eligible to be a board member. He said he supports the move.
"I support Maryville and if the residents in Maryville were to present us with a petition seeking disconnection and it complies with Illinois law, I believe we should grant them the freedom to disconnect — even if that means that I'm off the board," Carruthers said.
Contact reporter Ramona C. Sanders at 618-344-0264, ext. 136
