The November, 2005 termination of longtime Park District of Oak Park employee Greg Evans appears to be headed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and possibly to federal court.
Evans was manager of Adult and Senior Leisure Services at the time he was terminated last November in what park district officials said was part of a district-wide reorganization.
“I think it’s likely,” said David Porter, Evan’s attorney, last week of legal action on the case. “We’re still anticipating going forward.”
On Monday, Evans himself declined for a second time to release a notice of dismissal he received from the park district in November at the time of his dismissal, saying that it would be part of the discovery process in any legal action.
Contacted Tuesday, Park District Executive Director Gary Balling said he had not had any contact with Evans or his attorney recently, and there have been no developments in the situation. As he has in the past, Balling also declined to discuss what he termed park district personnel matters.
Porter said he was “just Evan’s attorney,” and that the more powerful voices to listen to were Evan’s past colleagues at the park district.
“Those are the people you should be talking with,” he said.
Eight individuals have in fact been willing to talk about Evans. All have praised the 21-year park district veteran, and questioned the motives of current park management in.
Courtney Villari, who was Sports Camp Teen Leadership director in 2005 under Evans, wrote a letter that was published in the March 15 Wednesday Journal. Referring to the park district’s mission statement, which reads “Providing Quality Recreation Opportunities in our Community,” Villari questioned why the district would fire Evans, who created Bark in Oak Park, developed the Frank Lloyd Wright Race, and created the Teen Leadership and Jr. Counselor programs.
Villari credited Evans with “creating a diversity of programs that have brought in lots of money for the park district to help keep the cost low at non-profitable facilities.”
Karen Mullarkey, who worked both as a swimming pool lifeguard and as a summer camp counselor under Evans, expressed dismay that the park district, which she said had lost money for years, would fire a manager who brought in revenues.
“The park district was for years as a whole losing money,” she said. “Here was a manager who made money.”
Villari also contended that the park district is allowing its programs standards to deteriorate, writing, “Do not let the high quality employees and programs be replaced by meager managers and conventional programs because of the park district’s restructuring.”
Carole Holland agreed with that assessment, saying, “When you see the kids running these programs now, they’re unqualified.”
Holland, who worked for Evans as a skate guard and in summer leagues, also played in sports programs he ran. She said she’s unhappy with the quality of current programs.
“We don’t ever play softball in Oak Park anymore because Greg doesn’t run the leagues,” Holland said.
Jacques Conway, a former park board commissioner who also serves as an Oak Park police sergeant, said he first met Evans when he was at Stevenson Playground in 1985.
“It was a volatile situation there then that he handled well,” said Conway. “There was a lot of crime going on, and kids were afraid to come.”
Conway said Evans was a good worker and “one of the more effective managers we had,” who produced positive results. Evans was also the type of person who liked to work on his own, he added, saying, “He was kind of solo. He just took ideas and ran with them.”
That, said Conway, may have led to friction with others at the park district.
“I did hear rumbles that Greg did his own thing, and didn’t include other managers,” said Conway.
“I don’t see being an independent worker as a negative,” said Mullarkey.
Others, though, may have. Conway said sometime during 2003 or 2004, Evans came to him with a complaint regarding his treatment by Balling.
“Greg brought to my attention that he wasn’t fairly evaluated by his superior,” said Conway, who said the park board brought the issue up with Balling, and Balling went back and spoke with Evans.
Mullarkey said she believed the problem was a personality clash.
“I don’t think that Gary liked Greg,” she said. “But you can’t fire someone for that.” Mullarkey also accused park officials of not following proper procedures.
“You have to tell someone what they’re doing wrong,” said Mullarkey, who added that Evans had never been told in detail what he was doing wrong and was never put on probation. Instead, she said, he was called into a meeting Nov. 18, told what he was doing wrong, and fired.
Conway, however, noted that he wasn’t Evan’s supervisor, and that he was unwilling to judge Balling’s actions.
“I can’t judge it from the outside,” he said. “Anytime you have an employee who’s been around for as long as he’s been, and he’s done a good job, it’s a tough call. I have respect for Gary Balling, and I have respect for Greg. The truth lies somewhere in between.”