The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors cast a series of votes at their Wednesday, July 16 meeting to allow the Parks & Recreation Department staff to move forward with plans for four movie nights and two holiday events during the 2026 fiscal year.
Each item passed 3-1 with Supervisor Betty Argue dissenting. Supervisor Richard Vassalotti did not attend.
“These items are great,” ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said. “They bring the community together, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do.”
However, Argue was adamant in her opposition to the proposals.
“I really don’t think we should be spending money on these things at all,” she said. “If we have extra money, we should spend it on other things.”
Accomando agreed. “I need to be sure this will be financed by [sponsors] for the event and not taxpayer dollars,” she said.
Argue claimed that the movies plus a “Sleepy Hollow Halloween” event and a “Frontier Holiday” event spread over two weekends in December could cost the district $150,000.
Supervisor Patrica Farrell said later that Argue’s estimate was a gross exaggeration.
Parks & Recreation Director Kenny Lawrence told the board that the cost of the movies ($500 each) plus staging the holiday events would be approximately $17,000. He said ITID staff would solicit sponsorships to cover most if not all of the cost.
“We’ve done this before, and it works well,” Lawrence said.
Asked this week about the large gap between her cost estimate and the one offered by Lawrence, Argue said that was the number she arrived at by factoring in “all the costs and staff time of planning and meeting and doing the event.”
Argue insisted that the Acreage Landowners’ Association (ALA) should be the entity generating community events, as it did for many years. She asserted that there has been a concerted effort to push the ALA into the background by creating a costly and overly stringent requirement for Sexual Abuse and Molestation (SAM) event insurance that it is impossible for the organization to meet.
Argue has had a long association with the ALA and served on its board from 2014-16.
“Anything with kids, we have to require SAM,” Accomando said. “Our only motivation is to protect the children. Heaven forbid that something should happen.”
Argue asserted that other local governing bodies do not require the same high level of SAM insurance.
The SAM insurance required by ITID for one event can be as much as $6,000, ALA President Bob Morgan said this week.
ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson said that the Parks & Recreation Department will be partnering with the ALA on the upcoming events in hopes of helping the longtime community organization reestablish itself.
Morgan said that the group has dwindled from thousands of members in the 1990s to 15 to 20 active members today.
By partnering with the district on the proposed events, the ALA will be covered by ITID’s SAM insurance.
Morgan said the arrangement is definitely a good deal for the ALA.
The ALA “may need a little help the first year or two,” Hanson said, but the goal is to return community event planning and execution to that organization.
Near the close of the meeting, Argue delivered a blistering rebuke to Hanson and the district staff, suggesting that the will of the board is often subverted by members of the staff prioritizing their goals over those of the supervisors. Hanson could not be reached for comment.
In a written statement shared Wednesday, Farrell wrote, “As elected officials, supervisors absolutely have the right to ask questions and engage with staff. But it should always be done with professionalism and respect.”
Farrell wrote that Argue’s behavior should be addressed and “handled appropriately to maintain a constructive and respectful work environment.”
Accomando said this week, “We have a code of [conduct]. No one should be spoken to like that.”
