The new Executive Director of the Park Ridge Recreation and Park District won’t take the reigns of the District until November 10th.  But Ray Ochromowicz has already made some of his views known about how a local governmental body should be run, and it’s the kind of talk we like to hear.

According to a Herald-Advocate story (“’When you ask for something, you’ll get it,’ new parks head promises,” October 6), Ochromowicz says residents will get “same-day responses” to questions and comments about the District. 

But the comments that really got our attention are the ones about information and referendums.

Ochromowicz said that during his employment as executive director of the Bolingbrook Park District, both the media and the residents themselves could get information about the park district and documents related to its operations merely by request, without filing a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request.

After years of trying to pry information from secretive or unresponsive bureaucrats, the idea of truly open government operations is welcome indeed.  And in that regard, the Park District has historically been ahead of the curve, at least among our local governments, in making its operations open to the public: it’s still the only local governmental body that videotapes its meetings and puts them on its own website.

As for referendums, Ochromowicz also talks the right talk when he says: “Our job is to take the needs of the people, put them into a plan, attach a price tag and then say, ‘Here it is. Are you willing to pay for it?’ And if they are not, that’s OK.”

That’s a wonderfully refreshing viewpoint after years of watching local governmental bodies treat referendums – especially the binding ones involving tax increases – like military campaigns for which armies of pass-the-referendum volunteers are marshaled to execute what amount to marketing strategies to “sell” the voters on the vital need for whatever project, program or expenditure is being promoted.

Like, for example, School District 64’s “Yes/Yes” referendum campaign back in 1997, and its “Citizens for Strong Schools” referendum campaign in 2007 – even though, technically, each of those campaigns was “privately” run and funded.

Ochromowicz claims that: “The way I like to operate is, I want to blow up people’s traditional perceptions of government.”

Well, Mr. Ochromowicz, it’s clear you know how to talk the talk.  Now we just have to wait and hope that you can walk the walk.