A lakefront property owners association will continue to serve as the Crystal Lake Park District’s lake ecology advisory committee after a vote failed to replace the group with a previous panel specially created for the role.

After a new majority took over the board in the spring, the previous lake ecology advisory committee was swiftly replaced with the Shoreline Property Owners Association during the June 5 meeting, at which the board made several moves that have caused public outcry. The SPOA is a private organization for residents who own homes on Crystal Lake’s namesake lake.

This week, park board Commissioner Cathy Cagle attempted to rescind the change, but the motion failed on a 3-3 vote, with Richard Hickey abstaining and Jason Heisler, Keith Nisenson and board President Frederick Tiesenga voting against it.

Cagle raised concerns about the lack of transparency when the change was voted on in June, saying that it was not shared with the board at that time that some commissioners – as well as former commissioner and park district attorney Eric Anderson – were not just members but also officers of the homeowners association.

Heisler, Tiesenga and Anderson – who all have lakefront properties – have since left their positions as officers for the SPOA, Cagle said.

“It was not disclosed” that they were officers in the SPOA, she said, adding, “The public has clearly asked us time and time again to be transparent and to be clear.”

According to Illinois Secretary of State records available online, Anderson still is listed as a registered agent and Tiesenga as an officer in the SPOA’s annual report, which was filed Sept. 22.

But Tiesenga told the Northwest Herald that he, Heisler and Anderson are no longer a part of the SPOA as of about a month ago, and that the Secretary of State records are out of date.

The attempt to revert to the committee before the SPOA took it over came after the board agreed to walk back its decision to end an intergovernmental agreement with Lakewood and Crystal Lake on how to manage the lake’s ecology. After pushback from residents and both municipalities, the board decided in a 5-2 vote last month to reverse its decision to create a new agreement.

That agreement spells out that the boat sticker revenue would go toward the costs associated with management of the lake, including weed-harvesting, lake ecology consulting, and chemical treatments used on milfoil and other invasive weed species.

Gregg Kobelinski, who serves as president for SPOA and the lake ecology committee, supported Cagle’s motion to return the reins to the lake ecology committee. To appease all parties, he suggested keeping the lake ecology committee to advise on the health of the water and having SPOA be a general lake advisory committee for all other matters.

“The SPOA was very honored to do that, but we don’t have an ecology committee,” he said. “We have 160 homes around the lake, and we have a lot of knowledge of what’s going on the lake and around the lake, but we aren’t focused on ecology.”

The purpose of the advisory group is to provide recommendations on how to keep the lake water healthy. Weed-harvesting and using boat decals to fund weed control were recommendations successfully implemented by the previous group.

Regarding the decision to replace the lake ecology committee with the homeowners association in June, Tiesenga said the main people doing the work on the committee already are association members, and they are the ones with “intel” on the lake.

Cagle took issue with that, saying “the lake belongs to all of the residents,” not merely those who live on its shores, and the group should be representative of all residents in the park district.

Whatever group serves as an advisory committee, they do not have spending or decision-making authority, Crystal Lake Park District Executive Director Jason Herbster said in June.