Frankenhoff elected to third term as president of Quincy Park Board

QUINCY — John Frankenhoff has been here before.

The Quincy Park District’s Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday night to give Frankenhoff a third term as president. He replaces Roger Leenerts, who served as president for the past year.

Frankenhoff is the longest serving commissioner, elected for the first time in 2001. He served a lengthy term as president before Bob Gough took over in 2017 and served for two years. Frankenhoff returned for two years before Leenerts took over.

Frankenhoff said he is proud of the work he did during his previous terms.

“There were some big things we had to deal with. I think I did a pretty good job of talking to the board,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s like herding cats. You know, it’s he says he’ll do this, and she says she’ll do that. It’s all that horse trading stuff, but we would get unanimous votes.

“There’s no real extra authority (by serving as president). I can’t do anything without a board vote. It’s about the extra time, the extra emails, the phone calls. It’s about having the time and willingness to put in the extra stuff.”

Two of the biggest issues facing the Park Board in the coming year will be creating a financial plan to pay for a new irrigation system at Westview Golf Course that is expected to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million, and finalizing the location and path for the next section of the Bill Klingner Trail from Parker Heights Park to Lincoln Park.

Agreement with Quincy Art Center extended to 2051

Frankenhoff, chair of the finance committee, moved the start time for upcoming committee meetings by 45 minutes. He says the committee needs additional time to talk about the district’s financial issues.

“(Irrigation at Westview) is a big decision,” he said. “We’ve got to piece together financing for the trail, and I would almost say the board’s not going to consider a referendum to pay for it. We have a limited amount of money we can work with for what’s going on. What are we gonna do?”

Barb Holthaus was re-elected vice president. Rome Frericks, in his role as executive director, will be the board’s secretary. Don Hilgenbrinck, in his role as director of business services, will be the board’s treasurer. David Penn was retained as the board’s attorney.

The Park Board voted to approve the extension of an agreement between the Park District and the Quincy Art Center. The current agreement had a right of first refusal for an additional term of 10 years to be exercised by the Quincy Art Center on July 12, 2021, which made the expiration date in 2031.

Jennifer Teter, executive director of the Quincy Art Center, asked the commissioners for a 20-year extension to 2051. The Art Center is seeking Illinois Department of Natural Resources museum capital grants to make updates to the studio level of the facility. Many of the museum grants require an agreement on the property to have no less than 25 years remaining on the agreement.

“I think this is phenomenal,” Leenerts said. “What a great organization.”

Park to stay open until 3 a.m. during RiverFest; Klingner Trail receives state engineering award

The Park Board also voted to approve a variance to park use ordinances, allowing Lincoln Park to remain open until 3 a.m. Aug. 4-6 during the RiverFest event. Commissioner Jeff Steinkamp suggested the board consider asking for liquor sales to be stopped a couple of hours earlier than the closure of the park when the 2023 event is discussed.

Commissioners learned construction of the pergola and patio at the Westview Golf Course clubhouse is nearly finished. So is work on the shelter house at Madison Park.

Mike Klingner, president and chief engineer at Klingner and Associates, presented the Park District with a plaque from the American Council of Engineering Companies, which selected the Bill Klingner Trail extensions project as the top project in Illinois for 2021.

Klingner said the project is in line to win national awards as well. It’s the second state award for Klingner and Associates. Recognition of all award winners will take place during the Engineering Excellence Awards Gala in Washington, D.C., on May 24.

More than 112,000 people walked along the trail last year.

“My dad worked on the layout of this trail back in 1946, and it was part of the plan that was adopted by the city,” Klingner said. “One of the reasons it was recognized was the community support and the amount of donations received. The fact that it took a long time to put it together, I think they recognize some of these projects don’t happen overnight.”