The Glen Ellyn Park District has been named a finalist in the National Parks and Recreation Association Gold Medal Awards program. The program recognizes communities throughout the United States for excellence in park and recreation administration. The Glen Ellyn Park District was named one of four national finalists in the 25,000 to 50,000 population category.
“The Gold Medal is one of the most esteemed awards in the parks and recreation industry,” according to Amy Kapp, spokeswoman for the NRPA.
The Gold Medal Award honors communities throughout the United States that demonstrate excellence in long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development, professional development and agency recognition. Each agency is judged on its ability to address the needs of those it services through the collective energies of citizens, staff and elected officials.
The park district was required to submit a 12 minute video presentation of our programs, events and projects from the last 5 years. The winner will be announced this fall at the national Park and Recreation Conference. Let’s hope we take home a winner!
The Glen Ellyn Park District recently replaced this outdated playground at Ackerman Park with a new ADA accessible playground. There are many new and physically challenging play components for children, age five-12. Some of the pieces to look for are the “Griz Lee” Climber, Tree-O-Climber and the Wiggly Worm.
You may also try your luck traversing through the Lilly Pad Stepper, and the spinning Ring Climber. If you like heights you most definitely will enjoy ascending the various climbers to the top and then sliding down the 25’ tall Chameleon winding slide.
There are many play panels for younger children to enjoy, as well as belt swings and bucket seats for the tots in your family. If you like shade you can hang out on the hexagon deck under the large roof and slide your troubles away on the Half Pipe slide. The concrete viewing area near the shelter has also been expanded; more seating is now available along with the accessible sidewalk connecting to the parking lot. Please stop by and enjoy the new playground.
The Glen Ellyn Park District is proud to partner with School District #87 and the Glenbard West High School Boosters to build a new artificial turf at Memorial Park for use by both Glenbard West and the Glen Ellyn Park District. After months of discussion and planning by staff and board, the park district has agreed to contribute $160,000 over eight years to help complete this project. These three entities have jointly committed more than $1.3 million to improve Memorial Field turf and amenities. The project scope includes: new high quality synthetic turf, fencing and storm water retention.
A major challenge for Glenbard West and the park district is the availability of outdoor space for athletics. A turf field for the School District will mean increased access to an on-campus field for practices and home games for soccer, softball, lacrosse, football, the marching band and cheerleading. It will reduce valuable time spent on buses traveling to off campus park district facilities.
A turf field for the park district will mean guaranteed accessibility for our football, soccer and other outdoor sports on weekends and in the summer. A synthetic field also guarantees more playability on bad weather days as well as lower daily maintenance costs. This partnership will enhance the ability of our organizations to optimally meet our missions to provide high quality programs that serve the needs of our youth and families. Work on the field is scheduled to begin this summer with a fall completion date.
Join us as we celebrate National Public Lands Day at Churchill Park on Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Activities will include nature hikes, seed collection, planting, cutting and stacking brush and some trail work. Light refreshments will be served. Each volunteer will receive a special thank you gift as a token of our appreciation. Join the effort as we roll up our sleeves to restore one of Glen Ellyn’s true “natural” parks. Bring your kids, your scout troop or just yourself. National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance public lands that Americans enjoy. To learn more about the day, check out page 4 in the brochure. Hope to see you there.
Your Glen Ellyn Park District just finished its Annual Independent Audit as required by law. We are very happy to announce that the GEPD is in great financial health thanks to the diligent hard work of all of our staff. If you would like to view the report you can see a copy on our web site. Also if you have any questions please feel free to contact the Park District or myself at any time.
Thanks and Good Health!
Edward Hess,
President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
Have you seen the ads, read the news, been hit by the tough economy? Experts are saying we need more exercise and recreation during these trying times. “Play 60 Minutes” a day for your kids. Turn off the TV and Wii games. Cut back on your expenses to make ends meet. Spend more time as a family. You have heard it all, but how?
The Glen Ellyn Park District to the rescue. We have no cost or low cost recreation and open space for all. The benefits abound. Lower stress, get in shape, learn something new, and enjoy nature. Now is the time to use your Park District more than ever. From nature at Churchill Park to outdoor sports at Village Green and Ackerman Parks to our new beautiful facility, Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center, GEPD was made for times like these. Spend some time with your family at Maryknoll: on the playground, playing bocce ball or horseshoes, maybe having a picnic and flying a kite.
The health of the Park District is good too. We are happy and proud to report that we have good fund balances, AA bond rating, and tax rates that are going down every year. See the chart below. Please look through this brochure and sign up for one of the countless programs and facilities we have for you.
On Saturday, January 23, 2010, we opened our doors to host the grand opening of the new Ackerman Park Sports and Fitness Center. Over 4,000 people are estimated to have come through the doors throughout the day. The White Sox Batting Cage area was brimming with people wanting to pose with the World Series trophy and enjoy free clinics. Western DuPage Special Recreation Association had hundreds check out their new program room. It was such a great day for families to see and experience our new facility. If you would like to see more about the day, go to www.AckermanSportsAndFitnessCenter.com to view the video.
A special thanks goes out to you, our residents, for your continued support of everything we do. We are so proud of the Ackerman facility and know that you will be a large part of its success in the many years to come. We have already passed our projected numbers for the first month of operation. As of this writing, we had over 10,000 people come through our doors, whether to work out, walk on the track, rock climb, shoot hoops, play a sport on the turf, host a birthday party / meeting, use the batting cages and participate in wheelchair basketball games; the list goes on. All facets of this facility, the basketball courts, turf field house, baseball training, to name a few, have no equal in the Park District. These are completely new and additional facilities to enhance our programs - in most cases the only ones we have.
So, if you haven’t been there yet, take a tour, enjoy a walk around our track or better yet, bring your whole family and sign up for a year. You won’t be disappointed. Check out more information about the Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center on pages 10-13. Thanks again for your support!
The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting has been awarded to the Park District by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its comprehensive annual financial report. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. The Board and staff take great pride in our fiscal management practices and work very hard every year to keep a healthy fund balance and balanced budget.
In 2009, the Glen Ellyn Park District proudly did its part in helping keep the planet green. Our recycling program saved enough timber for 18,585 sheets of newspaper; enough oil to heat and cool more than 213 homes for one year; enough gasoline for American to drive more than 61,600 miles and enough water to meet the monthly fresh water needs of 289 Americans. We continue to increase our “green” efforts every year with our cleaning products, waste receptacles and education programs. Thanks to our residents for your assistance with our efforts.
Get wet and play mini golf this summer for the same price as last year! You heard that right! We held our prices for the upcoming season at Sunset Pool, the Maryknoll Park Splash Park and even Holes & Knolls Miniature Golf. Look for all the pricing information throughout this brochure.
On behalf of the Glen Ellyn Park District Board of Commissioners, have a great spring and summer! We’ll see you in the parks!
Ed Hess, President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
Results are in from the 2009 Glen Ellyn Park District Community Assessment Survey mailed out this past summer. As part of our commitment to provide quality leisure services, the District contracted with Western Illinois University to conduct a community assessment. The survey was designed to assess attitudes, interests and behaviors related to parks, recreation and the Glen Ellyn Park District
We randomly surveyed 7,000 households and1,164 were returned. This calculates out to a 16.6% return rate. A similar survey was sent out in 2003 which gave us some basis to compare the these results. In 2003, we sent 5,000 surveys and over 21% were returned. Some highlights from the survey results include:
- Seven of every ten respondents were female. 43% of households had one or more children. 56% of the households earned over $100,000 and have lived on the average of 19.1 years in Glen Ellyn. All regions were represented in responses.
- The annual printed brochure is most used and is most important to residents. In 2003, only 5% of GEPD residents used our website as a source of information. Six years later, 31.4% use the website and 7.7% indicate that it is their most important source of GEPD information. Website visitation went from 16.1% in 2003 to 49.7%. 28% report that they are already receiving GEPD email blasts. The park district received an additional 281 new email addresses from the people who were interested in receiving the eblasts.
- Over 77% of the respondents felt that the property taxes were reasonable. 35 % to 56% of the respondents felt that parks contributed to the value of their home. There is an overwhelming belief that the park district contributes to the quality of life (87% strongly agree or agree while 9% had no opinion). Of those who do foresee some effect of the economic turndown, 27% say their park visitation will increase and 18% say that their
program involvement will decrease.
- Support for potential projects varied considerably with Lake Ellyn Boathouse renovation and the construction of a nature center at Churchill Park getting the most support.
- Ratings of good quantity of programs for various age groups ranged from
87% to 67%. Ratings of good quality of programs ranged from 82% to 67%. These numbers represent the percentages of people who believe the Glen Ellyn Park District programs are good both in terms of quantity and quality.
- 61% to 89% rated the parks as good to very good in the areas of condition of playgrounds, level of safety, upkeep & maintenance, landscaping, sport courts and the conditions of the playing fields.
These are just a few of the findings from the report. Overall, the Park District was given high ratings for their parks, programs and facilities. Click to view a detailed copy of the report.
Thank you very much to the over 1,000 residents who took part in this survey. We anticipate using much of this data to help improve our services to the residents.
Plans are underway to start operating our programs, leagues and fitness center beginning in January 2010. The building is close to being completed on time with plans to be in full operation the first of January. It is so exciting to watch the last stages of the project be completed. You can follow the progress of the building by clicking here. Information about the hours of operation and programs can be found on pages 4 and 5 of this brochure.
Sandra Minogue, President
Glen Ellyn Park District Board Of Commissioners
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Glen Ellyn Park District named Gold Medal Finalist