Two years ago we began looking into the Taste of Park Ridge (“TOPR”) and how it came to be operated by a private corporation, Taste of Park Ridge NFP (“Taste Inc.”), that was formed for no apparent reason six years ago by some of the people who at that time were identified for appointment to an “Ad Hoc Committee” of City government being formed to run TOPR for the City. 

What started out as curiosity became concern upon our discovering that Taste Inc. had failed to file any IRS Form 990s (the income tax returns required for not-for-profit organizations with annual revenues over $25,000) or otherwise account to the City for its stewardship of TOPR.  That concern was heightened when we discovered that Taste Inc. had contributed $1,000 to the campaign fund of Bob Dudycz, one of the original Taste Inc.-sters, in September 2007.

That concern turned to skepticism when we discovered that Taste Inc. voluntarily dissolved itself as a 501(c)(3) corporation in February 2009 and then re-incorporated as a 501(c)(6) corporation in March 2009, with no record of what it did with the money the original Taste Inc. could be expected to have had on hand when it dissolved.  What also caught our attention is that 501(c)(6) not-for-profits can do a few things 501(c)(3)s can’t, like use its funds for lobbying and political campaigns.

With rampant corruption seriously impairing the public’s trust and confidence in govenrment here in Illinois, we frankly wondered what was going on with TOPR and Taste Inc., and why our City government seemed to be oblivious to it.

Because when it comes to having trust and confidence in City government, what’s the average Park Ridge resident supposed to think when he/she learns that the City Council, without any known explanation, completely abandoned the TOPR plan [pdf] it debated and approved on June 6, 2005, when it virtually handed TOPR to Taste Inc. without even requiring a bid, a formal contract, or any accountability?

What’s the average Park Ridge resident supposed to think when he/she learns that, instead of the TOPR “profits” going into the City’s coffers as the Council originally intended, those profits not only end up in Taste Inc.’s bank account but the City also gives Taste Inc. approx. $23,000 in City services free of charge?

And what’s the average Park Ridge resident supposed to think when he/she learns that our elected representatives at City Hall have let this happen for six straight years without any serious effort to hold Taste Inc. accountable for all those “profits” that might total more than $350,000, judging by the $65,000 “profit” reported on the only IRS Form 990 tax return [pdf] (for 2009) there is a record of Taste Inc. having filed during the six years it has run the event?

Why is it that two mayors and a total of 18 aldermen have consistently turned a blind eye to this situation?  Is it because of the popularity of the event itself?  Are they afraid of demanding (or even merely requesting) some real accountability from the folks who run Taste Inc – Dave Iglow, Albert Galus, Jim Bruno, Dean Patras, Sandy Svizzero, Barb Tyksinski and John Warnimont – for fear those folks might walk if they can’t continue to treat TOPR as their own?

As we stated in our last post, the City Council actually got it right on June 6, 2005, when it approved a TOPR plan that would have entrusted that event to an “Ad Hoc Committee” of City government, accountable to the City Council, with its meetings subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act (“IOMA”) and all “profits” going to the City.  Mysteriously, that plan was abandoned almost immediately; and the mayor and the aldermen who conceived of and approved that plan seemingly became afflicted with collective amnesia.

So we call on the current Mayor and City Council to take their collective heads out of the sand on this issue and re-take ownership of TOPR for 2011.  They should implement the TOPR plan approved by the Council on June 6, 2005, by creating the proposed “Ad Hoc Committee” and offering the Taste Inc. officials positions on that committee.  And we call on those Taste Inc. folks to accept that offer – if they truly are the public-spirited volunteers committed to running the City’s premier civic event without any expectation or hope of personal gain, as they claim to be.

From what we’ve seen of our public officials and the Taste Inc.-sters, we think the chance of that happening is just about zero.  But we’d love to be proved wrong.