Trustee Bruce Torino began his comments at the last Board of Trustees' meeting by holding up a green flier distributed by a group calling itself the Committee for the Public Trust at St. Paul's and saying, "There has been an allegation made that the change in the use of the main building would take away green space and a soccer field. This is false. ...There is not now nor has there ever been any plan to take fields." He added, referring to the rally held by the Committee at Soccerfest, "I resent putting babies in front of bulldozers to make a point and that's what I feel this is." He added to the amusement of the crowd gathered in the Board Room, "You've heard it from the horse's mouth. This [the green flier] is from the other end."

Mayor Hal Hecken also noted that a story done in the New York Times questioning the economical viability of CareMatrix prompted him to do an extensive online search of the company's finances and to question economic and business experts. After his research and reviewing investment reports, he feels that there is a "good recommendation for future earnings and growth" and he added that while they overexpanded recently he doesn't "think that will pose a problem with what they plan to do here."

In response to questions from Trustee Laurence Kettner, Public Works Superintendent Robert Mangan noted that the parking lot plans for St. Paul's could be completed in September if pushed, but the item on the agenda for expanding the lots was deferred again. The report from Ward Associates has not been officially accepted nor adopted by the Recreation Commission and so the Village Board has not had an opportunity to circulate it to the POAs and review it itself.

Also deferred was the agenda item to install playground equipment at St. Paul's. Torino explained that the equipment is beyond the budget line and Recreation Superintendent Paul Blake added that the equipment being warehoused presently is insufficient for the size of the St. Paul's site and so more equipment must be purchased to meet the demand. He also noted that the layout must be finalized and funds allocated for safety surfaces, fencing, and other safety measures to meet state, federal, and local standards.

Newly elected President of the EPOA John Segerdahl stated that the EPOA has passed a resolution asking the Village to provide more information regarding the status of St. Paul's and the many issues related to it. He proposed a Village Facts be circulated, as well as updates to the mayor's column and briefs in the local papers. Mayor Hecken thanked him for the suggestion and noted that in fact the Village plans to do just that.

Hamilton Smith noted that the Rothschild report on the St. Paul's fields was the result of "intense community involvement" and reflected a desire for a mixed use plan for the land. He asked if the Ward Associates' plan also reflects this mix of uses, noting that most of the discussion relevant to the property at present seems to revolve predominantly around athletic fields. Smith commented that park space had been in high demand by residents who wished to share the property with the Village's young athletes. Mayor Hecken said that the Rothschild report was given to the Ward Associates for review, but their resulting report, as was mentioned above, has not been made available to the Board.

Secretary of the WPOA Arnold Finnemore proposed renaming the fields to avoid confusion between references to the Main Building and discussions about the acreage dedicated to public use. He suggested the A.T. Stewart Memorial Fields or naming it for Stewart's wife or perhaps other figures central in Garden City's history. The Board thanked him for his suggestion.

Estates POA President Bob Rothchild expressed increasing frustration at the delays in the plans with the consistent deferral of the parking lot expansion and play equipment. Trustee Torino stated that he felt it would be best for the Board to wait for a resolution from the Recreation Commission when they've completed reviewing the Ward plans.

The track at St. Paul's has been removed by the Village's Public Works Department staff and grass has been planted in its place. The motion to carry out this work was approved at the June 3 meeting. It had been decided that the Village did not need to wait to act on this.

The Recreation Commission meets on the second Thursday of each month, except in July and August, so it was unclear when the Commission would be meeting to accept the Ward document. The next Board of Trustees' meeting is July 22.