Rome Frericks
QUINCY — Eight months ago, the Quincy Park District’s Board of Commissioners discussed during its annual retreat the possibility of letting the public weigh in on the future of Art Keller Marina. The Park Board twice searched in 2021 for a private operator to take over the marina but had no success. Commissioners said during their August…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Darin Dodd came to Wednesday night’s Quincy Park Board meeting with questions about issues with baseball/softball fields he rents for his weekend Qtown Tournaments. He wasn’t happy with the answers, but Park Board President Mark Philpot asked Dodd to “stay connected” and “work towards a solution collectively.” Dodd spoke at the beginning of…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Mark Philpot believes he has one of the best jobs ever. He’s the first Black president of the Quincy Park Board, the “Disneyland of city government,” as he calls it. His journey here was nearly as magical, too, despite a rough start. He drove 137 miles from the rural town of Wellman, Iowa…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A little more than 24 hours after being sanctioned by the Quincy Park Board, Commissioner John Frankenhoff announced late Friday afternoon he is stepping down. “Hello. Effective immediately, I am resigning as a commissioner on the Quincy Park Board,” Frankenhoff wrote in a one-sentence email sent to Park Board President Mark Philpot, Executive…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board approved a resolution during a special meeting Thursday afternoon that censured long-time Commissioner John Frankenhoff for conduct that President Mark Philpot described as “unbecoming of a commissioner.” However, the employee who formally lodged a complaint against Frankenhoff wants more. Marketing Operations Director Marcelo Beroiza said during a six-minute statement…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A Quincy Park Board commissioner submitted his resignation during executive session after Wednesday night’s meeting, explaining in a letter that the “toxicity and abhorrent behavior of a single, long-serving staple of the Quincy Park Board” was the reason for his decision. The vitriol in Trent Lyons’ letter was directed at commissioner John Frankenhoff,…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board voted at its Wednesday night meeting to approve a 10 percent salary increase for Executive Director Rome Frericks. The board’s 2024 budget report showed Frericks’s approved budgeted salary for 2024 was $99,275. The recommended budget for 2025 indicates a salary of $109,203. Commissioners unanimously voted in favor of the…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Quincy Bay and Quincy Harbor is receiving $3.5 million worth of dredging next year from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Six small boat harbors in the Mississippi Valley Region received funds for dredging, using $8.3 million from the Fiscal Year Energy and Water Appropriation Bill, which was signed into law by President…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Quincy Park Board Commissioner John Frankenhoff took a moment during Wednesday’s Quincy Park Board meeting to clarify an issue involving the parking lot at the Paul Dennis Soccer Complex. Representatives from Diamond Construction informed Rome Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, and Matt Higley, director of parks, in July that when…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Rome Frericks got a phone call he wasn’t prepared for early Monday morning. “It was the famous 6:30 in the morning phone call from the contractor,” Frericks said. Representatives from Diamond Construction informed Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, and Matt Higley, director of parks, that when they started milling the…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Rome Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, informed the Quincy Park Board of a U.S. Department of Labor rule that revises the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act that implement the exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. The law was signed on April 23. Frericks said he learned…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board saved $158,115 against previously budgeted costs in voting to approve seven projects to be completed this summer. The board, minus Patty McGlothlin (who was ill), voted Wednesday night to spend $295,000 for milling and resurfacing work on the parking lot in the Paul Dennis Soccer Complex and $19,495 to…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — As the microphone was passed around the crowd of about 350 in the Oakley-Lindsay Center’s Kent Hall Thursday evening, a man wanted to ask Glenn Sanders a question. Sanders, a retired Illinois Conservation Police district supervisor, is also a member of the Quincy Bay Area Restoration and Enhancement Association (QBAREA), the group spearheading…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Rome Frericks, executive director for the Quincy Park District, wants anybody interested in the tentative plan for the Quincy Bay habitat rehabilitation and enhancement project to come to an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Oakley-Lindsay Center, 300 Civic Center Plaza. The open house will be conducted in partnership…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Work on the construction of a $1.37 million all-inclusive playground, shelter and restroom at Wavering Park could start by fall. Rome Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, learned Tuesday that an application for a $600,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources had been awarded. The…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Members of the Quincy youth soccer community chomping at the bit to play games — for both recreational and club teams — at the Paul Dennis Soccer Complex need to be patient. The Quincy Park Board voted unanimously in October to approve the transfer of the 22-acre site at 4201 State from the…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board approved a Fiscal Year 2024 budget during its monthly meeting on Wednesday night that reflects a $3.3 million deficit — but taxpayers shouldn’t be alarmed. In fact, they should be impressed. Before a vote was taken on the budget, Commissioner John Frankenhoff pointed out to the board and to…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Members of the Quincy Riverfront Development Corporation asked the Quincy Park Board on Wednesday night for a donation of $350,000 to bury power lines in Clat Adams Bicentennial Park. Park Board President Jarid Jones had another donation in mind. Rome Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, recommended the Park Board table…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Long-time commissioner John Frankenhoff didn’t mince words, calling it the “most significant land donation” in the history of the Quincy Park District. Frankenhoff and six other Quincy Park Board commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve the transfer of the 22-acre Paul Dennis Soccer Complex site at 4201 State from the Quinsippi Soccer…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A request by a member of the Quincy Riverfront Development Corporation for a $100,000 donation to help bury Ameren power lines was not well received by commissioners during Wednesday’s Quincy Park Board meeting. Rick Ehrhart spoke to the seven-member board at the beginning of the meeting. The project calls for the lines to…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board voted Wednesday night to approve a $566,091 bid from ATG Sports, a synthetic turf and sports stadium contractor from Festus, Mo., to install synthetic turf on the T-ball fields at the former Wavering Pool site. However, the dimensions of the fields and the amount of fencing needed for the…
Read Full Article 
Dear MRN, Did Ernie Banks ever receive a key from the city of Quincy? It appears the former Chicago Cubs great and Hall of Famer did, but it’s uncertain when. Heritage Auctions, an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, auctioned several items from Banks’ estate on Aug. 19-20. Included was the first professional baseball…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Quincy Park Board voted Wednesday night to authorize Executive Director Rome Frericks to take a second stab at obtaining funds to help pay for an all-inclusive playground, shelter and restroom at Wavering Park. Frericks will complete paperwork for an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant from the Illinois Department of…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A miscalculation on the number of sprinkler heads needed for the irrigation of all 27 holes at Westview Golf Course has dropped the projected cost of the project by nearly $1 million. Les Hill of Navasota, Texas, recently completed design work for the proposed system. During a June 14 presentation to the Quincy Park…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The profitability and popularity of youth sporting events in Quincy has prompted city officials to begin looking at the possibility of expanding the Oakley-Lindsay Center or building a nearby facility. Quincy Mayor Mike Troup and Chuck Bevelheimer, director of planning and development, have recently met with representatives with the Quincy Park District, the…
Read Full Article 
