Roscoe board reviews Stateline Fastpitch agreement at Swanson Park; attorney proposes tighter renewal, reporting and fee changes

At the Dec. 17 meeting the Roscoe Village Board discussed the long‑standing use agreement for Swanson Park with Stateline Fastpitch and explored changes to the contract after staff and the village attorney raised concerns that a for‑profit operator appears to be conducting much of the park’s operations.

Attorney Eric Green summarized meetings with Stateline representatives and said the village values the public benefit of organized play at Swanson Park but that the current operating arrangements raise concerns. Green said a nonprofit (Stateline Fastpitch) holds the use agreement, but some day‑to‑day operations appear to be performed by a separate, for‑profit entity. He told the board this could risk the village’s property-tax treatment if public property were effectively used to produce private profit.

Green said he discussed options with Stateline representatives, including amending the agreement to explicitly allow the subcontracting relationship or moving to a structure in which the nonprofit conducts the operations directly. "I prefer the latter because I don't want to run the risk of the assessor saying your public property is being used to make money by a for‑profit corporation," Green said during his report.

The board discussed additional controls for the agreement. Proposed changes and next steps raised during the meeting included: - Require clearer annual renewal procedures and deadlines (the attorney suggested the village send renewal notices and require a March 1 payment each year). - Require Stateline Fastpitch, as a not‑for‑profit, to provide financial information the village can review to set an appropriate user fee; trustees described transparency of revenue, payroll and operating costs as central to the discussion. - Consider increasing the annual user fee; Green said he suggested a significant increase during negotiations (one figure discussed was roughly doubling the user-fee to about $7,000 for the village’s budgeting exercise), but he said he lacked unilateral authority to set the fee and would return with a recommended amendment. - Clarify who controls concessions and sponsorship revenue and require that revenues run through the nonprofit’s books if the nonprofit is the operator.

Board members emphasized they wanted the park to remain an asset for the community; they expressed support for preserving the tournament and program activity while seeking transparency on who receives revenue and how the operation is structured. Several trustees suggested freezing the existing fee level for the first season while requiring financial reports after Stateline operates for a year, then using those reports to set a fee going forward.

Attorney Green said his next steps (subject to the mayor’s approval) would be to redraft the use agreement with more explicit renewal and payment terms, additional reporting requirements and clearer language about who may profit from operations, then send that draft to Stateline for review. No formal amendment or vote to change the agreement occurred at the meeting; the action noted was direction to the attorney and administration to draft revised language and return it to the board for consideration.

The board heard that Stateline has made facility upgrades and that some tournament revenue streams (concessions, signage sponsorships) exist; trustees asked that any revenue sources be visible in Stateline’s financial records if the nonprofit is to remain the operator of record.

Next steps: the attorney will draft amendments for the board to consider, the village will request financial information from Stateline Fastpitch, and staff will return suggested user-fee options and contract language to the board for a future vote.