Elmhurst D205 Official Blasts City Over Scoreboard

ELMHURST, IL – Frustration over Elmhurst's delays in approving a new scoreboard for York High School's stadium boiled over Tuesday night.

At an Elmhurst School District 205 board meeting, member Courtenae Trautmann read a statement criticizing the city's handling of the scoreboard.

The district had planned to replace the old scoreboard with a state-of-the-art one containing video. But its application has been delayed since May.

In March, the board approved the $259,000, 15-by-25-foot scoreboard.

Recently, the school reinstalled the old scoreboard, so it will be ready for coming football games.

In May, the city initially scheduled its Zoning and Planning Commission to consider the request, but later removed it from the agenda.

The issue came before the commission in June and July, but members requested more information.

In her statement, Trautmann said the zoning commission members have "refused" to approve the scoreboard.

"It seems like during each of these meetings, the finish line keeps getting pushed further and further away, requesting new and unavailable data and information," she said.

The district, Trautmann said, has found itself "tangled in endless discussions and a constant back-and-forth that has led us nowhere."

"My frustration is not just about the time that is wasted, but it's about the missed opportunity to give our student-athletes the opportunity to utilize the new scoreboard from the beginning of their fall seasons, which begin this week," she said.

The school will need a couple of weeks for installation of the new scoreboard and time for training staff on the equipment, she said.

The Zoning and Planning Commission considered the scoreboard again Monday night, at the same time as the school board meeting.

The commission voted 6-2 for the scoreboard request. The issue is now headed to a three-member City Council committee.

The next step is the full City Council, which usually goes through two rounds of voting, potentially on Sept. 3 and Sept. 16. Under that schedule, the new scoreboard wouldn't be ready until October.

Trautmann asked the council to suspend the normal rules and get everything done Sept. 3. The council has been known to do that.

In her statement, she said she respected the city's process and the volunteers on the zoning commission.

"However, this first step in the process has been unduly long and burdensome," Trautmann said.

No other board members commented on the issue.

A city spokeswoman declined to respond to the criticism.

Late last month, the scoreboard issue came up during a school board meeting after members asked administrators about it.

At the time, Chris Whelton, assistant superintendent of finance, gave a matter-of-fact answer about the status of the project without criticizing the city.

The scoreboard has brought a rare public break between the city and district.

A few years ago, their relationship turned rocky. They disagreed over stormwater and whether the city owed money from a special tax district.

During one 2019 closed board meeting, then-Superintendent Dave Moyer called the city "a jerk" and accused it of "shenanigans."

The meeting recording was released after the attorney general's office determined the board illegally closed its doors to the public.

Relations appeared to improve by December 2021. That was when city and school officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the city's installation of a stormwater detention basin under a York High artificial turf field.