A panel of appellate court judges ruled Friday that a circuit court erred in dismissing a claim by Waynemond Cotton that he was unfairly removed from his seat on the Harvey Park Board.
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“I feel great,” Cotton said Friday. “I feel excited. I don’t even know the words, right now.”
Cotton and Lakeisha Brown-Oneal filed suit last September, saying that then-Harvey Park District Executive Director Kisha McCaskill and board members Aaron McCaskill, Amari McCaskill, Joyce Brown and Floyd Coleman should be held responsible for attempting to vacate Cotton’s seat and refusing to swear in Brown-Oneal after both were elected.
The Park District declared Cotton’s office vacant last year on the grounds that he was indebted to the district for a $535 conference-registration expense, which Cotton disputed, according to the ruling.
Cotton was elected to a 4-year term on the board in 2023. That October, the National Recreation and Park Association held its annual conference in Dallas, Texas, and the Park District registered its five board members, according to the ruling.
Kisha McCaskill said Cotton did not inform the Park District he would be unable to attend until after the deadline for refunds had passed, the ruling said.
“The District thereafter treated the unrecovered $535 registration fee as an obligation owed by Cotton,” the ruling said.
In May 2025, the Park District informed Cotton his office had been declared vacant due to his indebtedness to the district.
Cotton denied he was indebted and sued, seeking a declaration that his removal from office was illegal. Cook County Judge Lynn Weaver Boyle ruled July 8 to dismiss Cotton’s claim.
However, the appellate court found the Park District did sufficiently demonstrated that Cotton had a legal obligation to pay back the conference fee.
“Here, defendants contend that Cotton became obligated to reimburse the District because it paid the registration fee and he failed to cancel before the NRPA’s refund deadline,” the ruling said. “Yet defendants identify no agreement, contract, reimbursement policy, ordinance, statute, or other legal basis imposing such an obligation.”
The dismissal was therefore reversed. Cotton said he believes the ruling means he should be reinstated to his position on the board in the next month or so.
“I’m waiting on my attorney to confirm,” Cotton said. “As of right now, I believe it’s just going to be an automatic reinstatement.”
Mary Israel with Del Galdo Law Group, which is representing the Park District, said in an email the firm planned to appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Because Cotton was elected to a 4-year term in April 2023, even if he is fully reinstated, his term will be up next year.
“Knowing the Park District, they don’t have meetings,” Cotton said. “I don’t see when it could possibly be when I’ll actually be able to attend a meeting.”
Cotton said he doesn’t intend on running for reelection to the Park Board. Instead, he has filed to run against incumbent Harvey 4th Ward Ald. Tracy Key in next year’s municipal election.
“I learned a lot from it and now I think I’m ready to move on,” Cotton said.
Kisha McCaskill has since been appointed to the Cook County Board representing District 5, and is seeking election to a full term in the general election. She is no longer executive director of the Park District, her spokesperson said.
Brown-Oneal, who was elected to the board in April 2025, alleged in the lawsuit that she had yet to be sworn in months after being elected, and that she had not been notified of any board meetings or included in communications regarding board or district business.
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Brown-Oneal’s claim, which was also dismissed earlier this year according to court records, was not included in the appellate court ruling. Unlike Cotton, Brown-Oneal was listed as a board member on the Harvey Park District’s website as of Friday.
“The reason I did this, it wasn’t for myself,” Cotton said. “It was mostly just to bring awareness to the fact that, in the south suburbs specifically, it’s just a lot of people get away with the little things.”