I’m pleased to welcome Dave Harris as the new director of the Glen Ellyn Park District. Dave started at the beginning of September and is off to a great start. Though Dave is new to the park district he is already very familiar with Glen Ellyn, having lived here with his family for the past nineteen years.
Dave has over twenty years of experience in park districts, much of which he spent at the Park District of Highland Park. There he launched a profitable new recreation and fitness center similar to the Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center and managed a nature center, golf course, pools, water park and an indoor ice rink. Additionally, Dave has significant experience in all other areas within the Parks and Recreation industry including parks maintenance, athletics, fundraising and community relations. Most recently Dave was director of the Butterfield Park District.
In the next year, Dave will focus on several special projects, including creating a comprehensive Communications and Customer Service Policy, establishing a business plan for the Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center and implementing a community survey to determine the needs and priorities of the community. Dave will also start creating a plan to revitalize Lake Ellyn Park with a focus on public involvement in the process.
Dave is an experienced leader who understands Glen Ellyn. I am confident that he has the skills, experience and determination to guide the Park District in improving fiscal discipline, maintenance of our parks and facilities, and customer service. I am thrilled to have Dave on board.
Starting in January 2012, live video of all Glen Ellyn Park District board meetings will be available online. All meetings will be taped and posted on the park district website and will be fully searchable. Meeting agendas and board packets will be linked to the video for a complete integrated public record of all board meetings. With this new service, residents will be able to learn about the business of the park district in an easy, accessible way.
More information about the activities of the Glen Ellyn Park District Board is online thanks to the new Board Blog. Here announcements for all meetings, agendas, board packets, minutes are online. The Board Blog also features Board Highlights with news from each Board meeting posted online within 48 hours of each meeting. Citizens can subscribe to the Board Blog through an RSS feed or receive updates through their email account.
Melissa Creech
President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
I am pleased to welcome three new commissioners to the Glen Ellyn Park District Board of Commissioners: Kathy Cornell, Rich Dunn and Gary Mayo. I look forward to serving with them and working together to strengthen the park district and keep our parks beautiful.
According to the trio, they sought the positions because they share common goals and have complementary skills and experiences that will provide new leadership for the park district. They believe the park district should be fiscally responsible with balanced budgets and careful planning for capital projects.
A fundraiser for the Sierra Club with an extensive background in both business and non-profit organizations, Kathy has served on many boards at both local and national levels. Gary is a small business owner who previously worked as chief financial officer accountant. He has been involved in many Glen Ellyn sports. A retired Director of the Glen Ellyn Planning and Development Department for 14 years, Rich is an active member of the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club.
All have pledged to be good stewards of our parks and focus on keeping our neighborhood parks well-maintained and accessible and our playing fields safe, dry and playable. Please join me in welcoming them.
The Park District has received a good response to its call for residents to serve in a volunteer capacity on a new Finance Committee. The board voted unanimously to create this citizen advisory committee at its May 17 meeting and solicited applicants with backgrounds in finance and accounting.
The purpose of the advisory committee is to review all aspects of the district’s finances, and develop a long-range financial plan to help guide the board’s future decision making.
Board liaisons to the Finance Committee are Commissioners Jay Kinzler and Gary Mayo and the staff liaison is Superintendent of Finance and Personnel Nick Cinquegrani. The board is developing goals and objectives for the committee and finalizing committee members.
On May 17, 2011 the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to reduce the working budget by $274,053 in an effort to balance the budget. Some of the areas of reduction included: conferences for staff, commissioner expenses, computer equipment, office supplies and other accounts. The Board of Commissioners also voted to cancel the Safety Village Project at Maryknoll Park which was originally planned to be a $900,000 project, with $800,000 of this in expected donations. The Board made this decision because the park district already has a Safety Village program at the Spring Avenue Recreation Center and the promised donations did not materialize.
The Board is committed to reducing costs and balancing this current year budget, while preparing for a balanced budget in 2012.
The Board of Commissioners is in the final stages of the hiring a new Executive Director for the Park District. We anticipate a new Director on board by the end of August. It is an exciting time for the Park District as we embark on an era of new leadership at the Director and Board of Commissioners level.
Melissa Creech
President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
In 2010, the Glen Ellyn Platform Tennis Club (GEPTC) approached the Board of Commissioners requesting a partnership be formed with the District. The partnership would foster the development of two additional Platform Tennis courts and an adjacent indoor facility that could be used by the Platform Tennis players in the winter and the Safety Village participants in the summer. GEPTC offered the Park District $150,000 toward the project and the partnership was born.
As many of you know, the Park District has been working toward the construction of a new Safety Village at Maryknoll Park. An integral part of the Safety Village program besides tricycles and miniature streets is the curriculum. Staff engages students through play that teaches them how to handle specific safety situations such as being approached by a stranger and how community workers help people. Special visitors such as local fire fighters, police officers and lifeguards are an important aspect of the program.
A classroom that holds 10 to 15 children is needed for the program. The idea of a combined building small enough to fit between the 2 sets of platform courts in the winter, but large enough for a small classroom in the summer was developed. The Maryknoll Safety and Recreation Center would fit those needs.
As of this writing, the design is complete and the construction bid process begun. In addition, the Park District has applied for a P.A.R.C. Grant through the State of Illinois Department of Natural Resource for Safety Village development. The Park District and GEPTC hope you share in our enthusiasm for this project and become involved with it. Please feel free to contact us to be part of this exciting project.
Did you know:
- We had a record number of ice skating days this winter at Lake Ellyn, Lake Foxcroft, and our two manmade rinks at Newton Park.
- We exceeded all expectations at the Ackerman Sports and Fitness Facility in our first year with over $78,000 in net revenue and over 150,000 people through its doors.
- Holes & Knolls Miniature Golf recorded over 20,000 rounds of play while the Maryknoll Park Splash Pad had over 42,000 people through its gates together netting approximately $90,000.
- Over 28,000 people registered for 2,100 recreation program sessions in one year.
- The Park District will contribute $20,000 per year for 8 years to School District #87 for the Glenbard West Memorial Park turf.
- For the third time, our Park District received the Gold Medal Finalist award from the National Recreation and Parks Association for excellence in the field of parks and recreation management.
- Our Sunset Pool lifeguards received the Platinum Award (again) for outstanding performance in aquatic safety.
- We send out email blasts to 10,000 individuals each month.
- Our nature programs and restoration efforts at Churchill Park increased tenfold this past year with over 1,400 children and adults volunteering in various activities including: removal of one acre of buckthorn; dispersing 25 lbs of seeds; planting 65 trees and shrubs and installing 700 plants.
- The new nine-hole disc golf course at Maryknoll Park was built and will open in 2011.
- Master gardeners conducted monthly presentations on successful gardening at the garden plots in Village Green Park and grew hundreds of pounds of food there for donation to local food pantries and soup kitchens.
Edward Hess,
President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
|
