Stressing their desire for confidentiality, Winnetka commissioners table decision on park board self-evaluations

Citing concerns about phrasing of questions and whether or not its results would be confidential, the Winnetka Park Board has postponed the implementation of a self-evaluation survey.

The survey was briefly discussed July 23 during the Winnetka Park Board’s most recent meeting.

Commissioner Christina Codo was the one who proposed the self-evaluation, saying that not only has the board discussed conducting a self-evaluation, but that a previous incarnation of the Park Board had done one back in September of 2023.

A draft copy of Codo’s proposed survey was included in the board packet for the July 23 meeting. It consists of 19 total prompts under two headings — “What We Do” and “How We Work” — that she told her fellow commissioners are meant to be ranked on a scale of 1-5, with space for additional comments.

“My proposal is that we’ll create a survey for each board member,” Codo said. “All of us will be on that survey list. You’ll complete it and it will go back, confidentially, to that individual board member.”

She further described the self-evaluation as “a healthy exercise” for the board.

“I think it articulates the expectations and I think it specifically addresses what we do, and how we do it, and how we do against the code of ethics,” she said.

While all the commissioners voiced support for the actual self-evaluation, some shared issues they had with specific phrasing within the document.

Commissioner Cynthia Rapp said she “found the criteria, as proposed, to be a little bit problematic.” She also said she believed the questions should be framed based on the Park Board’s policy manual.

She specifically cited an item on the survey that mentioned engaging with residents at the Winnetka Farmers Market.

“There’s no requirement to attend farmers market sessions,” she said. “We’re volunteers. We all do the best that we can to participate and engage with the public in line with the realities that we face in terms of our abilities to contribute endlessly to this board beyond the six-hour meetings that we sometimes have.”

Rapp also questioned how confidential the results of the survey would be, and encouraged the board to seek out a member of the Illinois Association of Park Districts to facilitate a self-evaluation.

She said that’s how the September 2023 self-evaluation, which was held in closed session, was done.

“The magic of having Peter Murphy (President and CEO of IAPD) come, or a member of IAPD, is that that pushes the discussion into closed session, and so it’s more confidential, so people could be more open,” Rapp said. “I think that, under this proposal, it’s a question in my mind whether things are truly confidential.”

Codo asked Adam Simon, Park Board attorney, whether the survey could be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. He responded that, because the commissioners are not employees of the Winnetka Park District, they are not subject to the rules guiding personnel evaluations.

He added that he could not confidently say if a survey distributed among commissioners outside of a closed session would be exempt from FOIA.

However, he confirmed Rapp’s assessment that self-evaluations that are “facilitated by a representative of a statewide agency of which we are a member” are exempt from FOIA because those are conducted in closed session.

The board, following Simon’s comments, ultimately decided to postpone the implementation of the survey until at least the September regular board meeting.

Codo, addressing the availability of Murphy for another self-evaluation session, said that she reportedly had been told that he only does one session per Park Board.

“He wants you to stand on your own two feet,” she said, but added that doesn’t mean the board can’t reach out to him to ask if he or another IAPD representative could assist.

Rapp offered to reach out to the IAPD to see if Murphy was available, while Codo said she and Rapp would collaborate on the survey itself to modify how the questions were written. The board also said they would look into ensuring that the results of the self-evaluation remain confidential among commissioners.

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