Conferencing with the experts

At Monday’s park board meeting, those attending shared what they learned from the sessions they attended.

Board member Dick Volker attended a seminar on identifying sexual predators. He said the park board must have a plan in place to identify such offenders. He said the best prospects to offend are people who don’t get enough love at home. He also said the board needed to monitor employees.

He also talked about the board’s liability and dealing with the adverse publicity.

Volker said sexual predators is the second hottest topic — second only to gun control. He said 800 cases are reported daily, and one in three girls and one in four boys will be abused in their lifetimes.

Princeton Park District Executive Director Elaine Russell also attended the seminar on sexual predators, and she said it was very informative.

“Your liability is at its peak if you don’t do anything about something you know,” she said.

Russell also attended a seminar on best financial practices. There was a discussion on preparing budgets in three-year increments, so after the budget is completed in late summer, Russell would like to also have a 2014 and 2015 budget for the board to review. She said the budget wouldn’t include the little items, but rather projected larger items such as the purchase of equipment.

Administrative assistant Tammy Lange attended a seminar on human resources and said it can be hard to have “tough” conversations with employees. However, if there’s a issue, it has to be addressed.

Lange said if there is a lawsuit regarding an employee, lawyers will turn to performance reviews. If there is a problem, and the reviews are good, that can increase the organization’s liability.

Aquatics coordinator Beth Weger attended a session on problems that can occur while running a day camp and aquatics program. Weger said the remedy was to cross-train the staff in both areas. That results in greater understanding of the jobs each do, and it can be helpful when there is a staff shortage.