Four Park District Seats Go Before Litchfield Voters in April 2027

Article Summary: Four of the seven seats on the Litchfield Park District Board of Commissioners are up for election in April 2027, with candidate packets available at the district office beginning the week of Aug. 17, 2026, and petition filing opening Nov. 16, 2026.

Commissioner Election Key Points:

Four seats are up for reelection in April 2027.

Election packets will be available in the Park District office beginning the week of Aug. 17, 2026.

Petitions may not be circulated before Aug. 25, 2026. The first day to file petitions is Nov. 16, 2026, at 8 a.m.

The minutes do not identify which four of the board’s seven seats are on the ballot.

LITCHFIELD — Four seats on the Litchfield Park District Board of Commissioners will be on the April 2027 ballot, commissioners were told Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, and the paperwork for prospective candidates becomes available this month.

Under a new business item reporting on upcoming commissioner elections, the board was told that election packets will be available in the Park District office beginning the week of Aug. 17, 2026. Petitions may not be circulated before Aug. 25, 2026, and the first day to file petitions is Nov. 16, 2026, at 8 a.m.

The report was presented without a motion or vote; it was informational.

Four of Seven

The park district is governed by a seven-member Board of Commissioners. Roll call at the Aug. 5 meeting listed President Jeff Heyen and Commissioners Katie Cross, Brian Kulick, Sherry Bergschneider, Christopher Bates, Jaylynn Taylor and Jennifer Cearlock, with Bergschneider and Bates recorded absent.

The minutes do not identify which four of those seats are up, and the district office is the place to confirm that before circulating petitions.

Each commissioner chairs a committee that reports to the full board each month, a structure visible on the Aug. 5 agenda: park maintenance (Cearlock), ball parks (Bergschneider), community center (Cross), recreation and reinvesting (Taylor), financial (Kulick) and pool (Bates). Over the course of the single meeting covered here, those committees brought the board decisions on a grant application, a ballfield modification, a youth event and the district’s concession operations.

The record of this meeting contains no information about compensation. The agenda and minutes both close with a blank monthly table headed “Commissioners’ $150 allotment for fiscal year,” listing all seven commissioners across the 2026-2027 fiscal year with no entries filled in and no explanation of what the allotment covers.

Candidates and residents seeking specifics on filing requirements, the number of signatures needed or the ballot-position lottery will need to obtain a packet from the district office, at 1100 South State St., where the board also holds its regular monthly meetings at 7 p.m. The board’s next scheduled meeting is Sept. 2, 2026.