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ARE YOU ON BOARD? Boardmanship Insights Lessons from the award-winning Geneseo Community Park District
What makes a good board? Good leadership, certainly. Trust and respect among the board members and executive, absolutely. These qualities are givens for good boards. Other qualities are not so easy to pinpoint, yet it's clear that "good boards" have them. Community support. A spirit of cooperation among the board members and other community leaders. Innovation. Risk-taking. For this column, I sought firsthand boardmanship advice from the board and director of the Geneseo Community Park District, which recently received the Outstanding Board Award from the National Recreation and Park Association. The award recognizes boards or commissions that have a record of outstanding support, cooperation and innovative planning in the field of parks and recreation. The Geneseo Community Park District serves an agriculturally based community of 10,000 in the city of Geneseo and surrounding areas. Despite its rural roots, the area is predominately middle class and white-collar, a bedroom community of the Quad Cities. Among the agency's recent achievements are the takeover and successful operation of the Central Theatre, purchase and renovation of the Old Athletic Field and development of Andersen Memorial Park. For its successes and recent award, board members give a lot of credit to Bob Orsi, a lifelong resident of Geneseo and director for 26 years. Take Risks "We have, as a board, decided to do some innovative projects and maybe some riskier projects that most boards do not do," says Orsi. "One is that we decided to renovate the local theater and take it over. A lot of our board members were wary of this because the theater wasn't going as well as it should. We polled the people and made a good faith effort and it worked out great." About the board, Orsi says: "I just think they are very progressive people in their own rights. They are knowledgeable about where they are and where they want to go. "They understand how boardmanship works and that fighting and infighting just doesn't." See the Big Picture "We have our whole community at heart," says Bob Wyffels, 46, a lifelong resident of Geneseo and past president of the park district. Wyffels, a seed salesman, has served on the board since 1995. "It's not just our park district. We are community-minded people. The members on the board are passionately interested or they wouldn't have applied for the job. We're all patrons of the park district, although we're all ages, male and female." "Another unique thing about Geneseo, all these activities, all these services, we want them for the community, but we don't care if it's the park district supplying them. Sometimes it's the city or the school. "If we have a great soccer program, does it really matter if it's run by the park district?" Be Prepared "I think the first year or two was an educational process," says Jeff Ford, 50, president of the Geneseo Community Park District and co-owner of his family's distributor business. "(Our director) gave me this booklet to read right when I came on the board (in 1995), and I actually read it, and that's one of the things we have going for our board. (Bob Orsi) 6 ¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation BOARDMANSHIP INSIGHTS
is very well prepared and well organized. He gives us a packet of information with an agenda well before the meeting. "We try to stress with our board when he gives us that information to read it. We discuss issues ahead of time. I like to keep things moving in a meeting." Keep an Open Mind Ford admits that the board disagrees on occasion. "I was against the theater project," says Ford. "I could not see the fit between us (the park district) and the theater. I didn't want it taking up Bob's time on something like that, but I said OK, if it works, and went along with everybody, and I've been proven wrong. "If they had listened to me, they'd have shut the (theater) down. Now it's very successful. "I have more of an open mind now."
Be Fiscally Responsible "We always try to keep our park district in the black," says Stan Storm, 60, a grain farmer who's serving his fourth term on the board. "We're not afraid to get input from the community. Right now we have a steering committee to get some opinions on a project. We have an open mind." Mentor Your Board Members Elected to the board in 1998, Jeff Herschfelder, 41, is the "junior member" of the board. He moved to Geneseo from Tinley Park 15 years ago and started a dental practice and a family. "I get a lot of help from the other board members," says Herschfelder. "For me the transition from not being on the board to being on the board was fairly easy, and they made it that way. "Everyone is readily accessible. We have a great deal of communication. Our meetings are very productive." Don't Micro-manage Regarding advice for new board members, Ford says: "Listen to your other board members, respect their opinions and ideas and let your...full-time employees do their jobs. Don't micro-manage it and run the facility. "I think we, as a board, try to allow Bob and his staff to do the work. That's what they're hired for. We establish policy and we also pay the bills and long-range planning." Molly Hamer worked in the recreation department of the Schaumburg Park District for 11 years before relocating with her husband to their hometown when their triplets were eight months old. She successfully ran for the board in 1995 and understands the difference between a board member hat and a professional hat. "Part of it was my training from Schaumburg, where there was a clear delineation between board and staff there," says Hamer. "Intellectually I knew I was coming to meetings once a month and involving myself as a policy-making advisor." Care "I think on this board there's an undertone of people who care," says Hamer. "We have a very dedicated board. Like Schaumburg, it's about fiscal responsibility. I saw that there and I see that here. "We're fortunate to have community-minded, progressive-thinking individuals who care and who are thoughtful, who are...willing to listen and express opinions and exchange ideas and change their mind if needed. "There's a greater energy spent on the greater good." November/December 2001 ¦ 7 |
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