The old cattle barn in Legion Park is a thing of the past. Well, almost. A weed-ringed pile of rubble remains to mark the spot.

All that remains of the old cattle barn at Legion Park (above) is piled up and waiting to be removed. Due to the inability to field a quorum, Gerald’s Park Board has been unable to conduct any business since their April meeting.

Since Mayor Otis Schulte was sworn in last April, he has aggressively pushed the Park Board to raze the old structure. The Park Board argued that until they had the funds to replace it, the old barn provided needed shade and shelter from rain at the annual community picnic.

A line in the sand was drawn and with the exception of Jim Flannery — park board vice president — the board was united. They withstood cursing and threats of dismissal from the mayor. They endured a public hearing called by the mayor and several special meetings on the subject.

At the April meeting of the Gerald Board of Aldermen, Schulte announced that he was replacing park board members Greg Landwehr (president) and Megan Trest (treasurer), both outspoken advocates of saving the old barn. Flannery, a supporter of Schulte’s position, was reappointed.

The following week, the park board gave in to the mayor and voted — Trest cast the lone no   vote  — to knock down the old barn, burn the debris and salvage the metal roofing for some much needed cash.

The mayor was in attendance and said that Nick Grube, public works director, would be instructed to take down the structure and pull of as much roofing as possible. After other business the meeting adjourned.

Somehow, the board’s wishes weren’t relayed to Grube. When told to knock down the old barn, Grube asked if he could salvage it for his own use. The mayor and Flannery told Grube they had spoken to some of the park board members who said that was okay with them. They took it upon themselves to override the park board’s motion.

Grube took a day of vacation, and with the mayor’s approval, used city equipment to knock down part of the old barn. He then had friends help him load it up and remove it.

When Landwehr was told that the metal was being hauled off, he halted the project.
At the next meeting of the Gerald Board of Aldermen, the subject of the clean up was broached. Ward 1 Alderman Brad Landwehr suggested that Grube return to the old barn, finish knocking it down and then try again to pull the metal roof off. He said that he would volunteer to go up and work on it. The mayor also volunteered. Neither man made it.
The aldermen then discussed the possibility of using someone who needed to work off some community service hours. City Attorney Joe Purschke said that would be all right, but the community service worker needed to be supervised.

Grube went up the next day and finished knocking the structure down.

On Saturday, May 17, Greg Landwehr drove by Legion Park  and noticed someone laying on the rubble smoking a cigarette. He approached the man and was told that the mayor had instructed him to work on clearing up the rubble as part of his community service time. Landwehr says when he questioned the man about supervision, he was told that “someone drives by once in while.”

Landwehr reports that he felt such loose supervision was putting the city and park board at a liability and told the man to stop work.

At the regular meeting of the park board scheduled for May 20, only three members attended. Ironically, two of those were the ones not reappointed by the mayor. Secretary Julie Wilson also made the meeting. A woman from Illinois drove over for the opening of the bids for the new ball field lights, which was scheduled for that night, but with no quorum, no business could be conducted, including paying the bills.

A special meeting was called for Wednesday, May 28 at 7 p.m.  Landwehr, Trest, Wilson, as well as Jordan Lottmann were there at the scheduled time. Lottmann and Wilson left after no one else  showed up. Sue Oglesby arrived at 7:35 and Richard Pierce came after church, but since two had already left, there was still no quorum.

The next day, Landwehr called another special meeting for Monday, June 2 and another for Tuesday, June 3, in hopes that one of those meetings would result in a quorum. The bids and bills were still waiting attention.

In a surprise move on Monday, Flannery appeared at City Hall and pointed out an ordinance from 1975 that states, in reference to the park board, “members shall hold their respective office from the first day of June following their appointment.” He contends that Landwehr and Trest are no longer members as of Sunday, June 1.

Replacements Steve Kamper and Jeff Mesger have not been sworn in.

The lawyers agree that the meetings are valid since they were called by Landwehr in May when he was still a valid member.

Flannery arrived for the meeting Monday night, but went straight inside. Other members of the park board, past and present,  huddled in the parking lot waiting to see if a quorum would be attained that night, but again the group fell short.

It seems that the old cattle barn is not all that is gone.

A once enthusiastic and energetic park board has also been destroyed.