STATEHOUSE INSIDER

ISSUES & INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE

Have You Seen Your Legislator Lately?

Plus, changes in Tort Immunity and investment policies

AS THE STATE of Illinois initiated the Illinois FIRST program—a 12-billion-dollar infrastructure improvement initiative of Governor George Ryan— many park districts effectively communicated the serious and important infrastructure needs of their communities. This program is part of a four-year effort to improve the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure of local governments.

While park districts have been successful in communicating their needs, this should be part of an ongoing effort by your agency, because additional funds will be made available to legislators for important projects within their districts. More often, projects that are well-organized and reflect a cooperative effort have been awarded dollars.

So,if you haven't seen your legislator lately, I recommend that you do so in order to seek an injection of Illinois FIRST monies for your district's infrastructure.

INVITE YOUR LEGISLATOR TO THE STATE CONFERENCE

The IAPD/IPRA Annual Conference provides a special opportunity for you to showcase your agency and the field of parks and recreation to your legislator. On Friday, January 14, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, the All Conference Luncheon is designed for you to invite your local legislators to see the breadth and depth of park and forest preserve district activities. I recommend that you act today to invite them to attend the conference luncheon as your guest (at no cost to your agency).

Many legislators who have attended in the past now make this a part of their annual calendar. Legislators receive free valet parking and will be greeted at the hotel's front door by a member of the Joint Legislative Committee or someone from your agency. They will then be escorted to the banquet facility and seated at a reserved table with your board and staff.

After the luncheon, plan to take your legislator through the Exhibit Hall where they can gain a further appreciate of the varied roles and responsibilities of Illinois park districts and forest preserves.

Call the IAPD office to confirm the attendance of your legislator. Note that all Illinois legislators will receive an invitation for this event from IAPD in early December.

INVESTMENT POLICY

This is a reminder that all park districts and forest preserves should have an investment policy in place by January 1, 2000. The investment policy must apply to all funds under an agency's jurisdiction. The policy must include investment objectives, investment guidelines and information regarding diversification. The policy must also name the financial officer who has direct responsibility for the investment of funds.

The policy must include performance measures for the investments and provide for an annual independent review for internal control, which assures compliance with the investment policy. In addition, all investment transactions should be reported on at least weekly, listing all active investments, location of investments, maturity of investments, interest rate and other pertinent information deemed necessary.

This report should be submitted monthly to the board of commissioners.

If your agency has not yet implemented a investment policy, contact IAPD to obtain a sample policy which you can customize for your agency.

TORT IMMUNITY ACT

This year the Illinois General Assembly approved changes to the Governmental Employee Tort Immunity Act. Public Act 90-628 now requires that the annual report shall also list all expenditures from the reserve or from property taxes levied or extended for tort immunity

12/ Illinois Parks and Recreation

purposes.

Total claims payments and total reserves must be listed in aggregate amounts. All other expenditures must be identified individually.

The Act further requires that a local public entity that maintains a selfinsurance reserve or that levies and extends a property tax for tort immunity purposes, must include in its audit or annual report any expenditures made from the property tax levy or self-insurance reserve within the scope of the audit or annual report.

The direction of the legislation was to expose those units of local government that are using tax revenue generated from the tort immunity fund for purposes not expressly authorized under the act.

OLT RULES

After conducting a focus group on proposed rules for the implementation of the Open Land Trust (OLT) Grant and Loan Program, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is finalizing its proposed rules.

At this writing the IAPD has formally recommended a number of changes which would clarify the ability of park districts to participate in this exciting new state program.

While final rules have not yet been formalized, it is expected that this will be done in the next several weeks and then forwarded to the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. IAPD will keep you posted the status of these rules as they proceed through the implementation process. It is expected that the time frame for the submittal of grants under this program will come at the early part of year 2000.

NATIONAL FRONT

1999 marks one of the most exciting times for those of us who have been advocating for additional funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) state assistance and Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR) programs.

While Congress has previously failed to adequately and reliably fund LWCF state assistance and UPARR, these programs have a history of outstanding records of accomplishment while typically leveraging a modest federal monetary commitment. For example, from 1965 through 1999 (when the program dried up) a federal investment of $3.2 billion in LWCF state assistance grants generated a total of $6.8 billion to restore, acquire, plan for and develop over 37,500 state regional and local park sites.

With the largess of the federal budget, 1999 presents the best opportunity to fully fund these programs. I encourage each of you reading this column to take the time today to write to your U.S. Senators and Congressmen and request that they vote for full and permanent funding for LWCF and UPARR.

(At this point specific bill numbers are not available, but all members of Congress are aware of the discussions regarding this issue.)

Pull out the stops and remind your legislators that parks, open space and close-to-home recreational opportunities create a high quality of life, attracting business, residents and investors to communities. Parks typically increase adjacent property values and stimulate economic development associated with creating access and services to support park and recreation facilities.

Remind your legislators that a recent national poll indicates that 85% of Americans agree that parks and open space are a priority for them and their families and contribute to property values and the economic stability of neighborhoods.

If possible, give a specific example of an LWCF project funded in your community. If not, stress the importance of funding to your important future projects. 

November/December 1999 /13