'Poor Performance' At White Pines Golf Club Before 2020

BENSENVILLE, IL – White Pines Golf Club in Bensenville has seen an almost complete turnover of employees since early 2020, prompted by "abnormal" refunds and "poor performance," a park official said last week.

Joe Vallez, executive director of the Bensenville Park District since late 2016, took the golf club's helm in February 2020. Previously, the top golf club official reported directly to the park board.

"When I came into the facility, I immediately took action with select staff. The manager of golf was fired within 10 days of me taking over the facility," Vallez said in an interview. "Since then, approximately 95 percent of the staff has been replaced. Action was taken because of the poor performance of employees."

Through a public records request, Patch obtained documents that showed Bensenville police were investigating the golf club for refunds given from 2014 to 2019. The park district, Vallez said, brought information about the "abnormal" refunds to the police.

The detective handling the matter has not replied to a request for comment.

The records indicate the golf club issued $783,259 in refunds over six years. The annual amounts steadily increased from $39,251 in 2014 to $284,192 in 2019.

According to the documents, many of the refunds came with no written explanation.

At least four employees had the authority to issue refunds, the records indicate. They all appeared to use the "admin" log-in, so refunds could not be pinned down to one person.

"If you're seeing a high amount of refunds in our business or any business, that should be a red flag," Vallez said.

Vallez said the park district has made a number of changes to prevent the previous level of refunds. For instance, he said, it has changed its auditor and accounting software.

The golf club, he said, was losing money when he took control.

"The board has really dictated to me that they want that facility to be as profitable and well-run as the rest of our facilities," Vallez said.

He said the park district has turned over all its information about the refunds to the police department.

"We've had numerous meetings with them," he said. "We have not been told the investigation is closed. That is why the park district is careful to discuss any parts of it."