Parents Want Butler Lake Park Restrooms Reopened

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — Parents frequenting Butler Lake Park are pushing the village to reopen its public restrooms. A "dark" and "completely overflowing" portable toilet is the current option, and it's drawing criticism from parents, most with children playing baseball at the park.

One mother wrote an email to the village, which was read during Tuesday's village board meeting. She said the feces-covered floor and a toilet seat covered with an "unknown substance" was an unacceptable option.

She also said she wiped the seat down and piled up toilet paper before letting her 6-year-old daughter use the toilet.

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"It was disgusting and I felt bad for her. We are living during a pandemic and I expected more from the village," she wrote in the email.

She, like other parents, think it’s time to reopen the public restrooms, which are maintained by the village.

Another mother with three kids in Little League also implored the village to reopen its bathrooms.

"If we can allow kids and coaches to properly follow COVID rules to play baseball, we should be able to follow the same protocol to use public restrooms," a third mother wrote in an email.

The public restrooms at Butler Lake Park have been closed because of COVID-19, village officials said. Mayor Donna Johnson said a port -a-potty is not traditionally available at the busy park, but it was offered as an option during COVID. CDC guidelines, she said, prompted the village to keep the typical bathrooms locked and closed.

"We just wanted you to know that once we received these phone calls and inquiries, the staff and I have been working on addressing this," Johnson said.

She added the village is responsible for keeping the public restrooms clean and is hopeful the village can reopen the bathrooms soon.

"Libertyville is a community where we want to have clean restrooms. This was driven by the COVID pandemic and it will be addressed shortly," she said during the May 11 village board meeting.