Golden mayor orders rainbow-colored benches to be restored at village library, park

GOLDEN, Ill. — The color of three park benches caused quite a stir last month in Golden, but a decision by the village’s mayor could help quiet the controversy.

Mayor Jim McClintock told Muddy River News Thursday afternoon that rainbow-colored park benches in front of the public library and in City Park will be restored to their original state this weekend after they were altered Wednesday. Another rainbow-colored bench will be installed at the park when conditions allow.

“After discussion with the board members (for the village of Golden), we came to the decision that the best outcome for both sides is to proceed with putting the benches back to where they were when they were installed,” McClintock said. “There was some miscommunication, you know, and it’s resolved. I’m going to leave it at that.”

Robin Walker is the secretary for Golden Friends, a group of eight Golden women who raise and donate money for projects in the village of 640 people — including the two benches for the park. She was happy to hear about McClintock’s decision.

“It just never should have gotten this blown out of proportion, all due to a lack of communication,” Walker said. “I guess it shows the importance of your public records and how important they are to maintain the actual content of what’s discussed so the public can review the truth in government.”

Golden Friends wanted to install benches in the park near the playground equipment. Walker said nursing mothers and several home daycares wanted to be closer to the kids when visiting the park.

‘The bench color is to match the playground color’

The Golden Trustees approved the group’s donation of the benches during its April 13, 2022, meeting “as long as they write the grant,” according to minutes.

The project cost was $1,585.76, and Walker wrote the grant, submitting her paperwork on July 1, 2022, with a color of a rainbow-colored bench at the bottom. McClintock signed the document. Adams Electric Cooperative donated $800 to the cost using its Penny Power grant, and the Golden Friends covered the rest.

“The (Penny Power) committee saw the benches as fitting the ‘community betterment’ requirement of the Penny Power grant program and never even considered that the brightly colored benches would be controversial,” said Bill Stalder, manager of marketing and member services for Adams Electric Cooperative in Camp Point.

The minutes said, “The bench color is to match the playground equipment color.”

That’s where the problems began. 

“The only stipulation was at that time … that the color of the benches match the playground, which was mostly dark blue,” McClintock said. “They didn’t follow the guidelines that were set forth a year ago on what color the benches need to be. … I mean, it’s there in black and white.”

The playground has a black slide, a blue slide and blue posts, yellow railings and monkey bars and red roofs — and a multi-colored apparatus for children to climb.

The Golden Friends opted for rainbow-colored benches. Ann Paben, a member of the Golden Friends, said librarian Shelli Jones told her that another bench the group paid for outside the public library more than a year earlier had received “no kickback.”

Mayor, city worker installed bench at park in May

“Everybody who came in loved it. The kids loved the color,” Paben said. “So we went with the rainbow bench, because that was such a positive thing and we were getting so much positive turnout. As you can see, our playground is multicolored, so we thought (the benches) would be perfect to brighten it up.”

Walker said the benches were ordered in August 2022 and received in “either late September or early October.” The Golden Friends asked the Golden Trustees to prioritize the installation of the two benches in a Feb. 16 letter.

McClintock and a city worker installed the first park bench in early May. 

“They come in looking like a box of crayons,” the mayor said. “They were different colors. I’m like, OK, it is what it is at this point.”

McClintock learned of dissatisfaction with the color of the recently installed bench during the Golden Trustees meeting on May 10.

“The board members said, ‘Hey, that’s not what we agreed on. Let’s not put the other one in until we get something figured out,’” he said.

All eight members of the Golden Friends met Feb. 22 with trustee Jill Gooding.

“(Gooding) had her mind set,” Paben said. “She wanted us to pretty much send the benches back, which we can’t because it’s been almost a year (since they were ordered).

“We were just trying to figure out a way we could compromise. At this time, the library bench had not even been brought up. It was just the two benches that we were trying to convince (Gooding to keep). Lois (Reason, Golden Friends president) came up with idea, ‘OK, you have two benches. Why not switch out the slats?’ But we weren’t planning on them being that ugly.”

‘Rainbows signify God’s promise and friendship’

Paben said Gooding suggested painting the hard plastic bench slats.

“You can’t paint over it. You’re going to have to prime it a lot,” she said. “What kind of upset me was that all they saw was the color. They didn’t go up and look at the bench, they didn’t go up and sit on it … they didn’t do anything. They just saw the color and immediately went into defense mode.”

Emily Walker, Robin Walker’s daughter, said the trustees don’t want the benches to be rainbow-colored “because they think that we’re signifying homosexuality, and that’s not what it is. Rainbows signify God’s promise and friendship, and they’re turning it into something ugly. It’s not.”

Walker said the slats on the park bench and the library bench were changed Wednesday, eliminating the rainbow effect.

“Jill Gooding came and got the bench and told Lois once it was loaded, ‘Oh, and by the way, we’re also going to change the slats on the bench at the library,’” Walker said. “And Lois was like, what? We had no recourse. They did not contact the library, and they were unprofessional. They didn’t reach out and say, ‘We’re going to come on your (library) property and we’re changing the slats.’”

Only negative comments about park bench came from trustees

“I wasn’t there. It wasn’t my idea,” McClintock said Thursday morning. “I don’t know who said what to who or however that went. Things proceeded from there. As of (Wednesday), the colors on the benches have gotten changed, and that’s all I know. I’m in the dark on most of this. After I was told not to put in the second bench, I kind of washed my hands of it.”

Muddy River News contacted Gooding by text message on Thursday, asking for an interview. Gooding replied, “I have no comment.”

The Golden Friends say they have not received a negative comment — except from Golden Trustees members — about the rainbow-colored bench installed in the park.

“People in town who normally doesn’t get involved are asking us how to get involved,” said Emily Walker, organizer of a petition that had received 144 signatures asking to restore the rainbow-colored benches. “They’re so upset with the fact that there wasn’t a vote. There wasn’t anything done to get the town’s opinion. It was just these people saying, ‘We know what’s best for the town.’”

After learning of McClintock’s decision to restore the rainbow-colored benches and install the third bench when the ground is suitable to dig, Paben posted this on Facebook:

“I want to thank everyone who has stood by us as we fought so hard for this. Thank you to everyone. And to our mayor, thank you for finally hearing what your community and our town was saying.”