Get on Board- IP March 2005

Dr. Ted Flickinger
IAPD President and Chief Executive Officer

GET ON BOARD

Freshly Trained Board Members Don't Need to Be Freshman Commissioners

I couldn't help overhearing a conversation that took place among a group of commissioners during the break of a recent training session. One was treasurer for his board. He related how frustrated he had become with the low interest rates he'd been offered on his short-term CDs. He knew that he'd earn as much as 2 percent more if he could buy 12-month CDs, but he also understood that his agency would need some liquidity for upcoming capital expenditures. He solved his problem by buying a 12-month CD each month. That way he, he got the higher interest rate, but each month, when a CD matured, he had cash that he could use to pay expenses or re-invest.

Agencies need to think of their modest board-training costs not as expenses, but as investments.

Before I could politely find a way to join the group, another commissioner stole my thunder. She suggested putting in a call to the Illinois Park District Liquid Asset Fund Plus. She felt her district was maximizing its assets through IPDLAF+, but still had complete liquidity.

Financial management wasn't on the agenda at that particular day's seminar, but I'll bet one or two members of that group of commissioners went back to their boards with some valuable ideas about cash management strategies.

Fresh ideas like these more than pay for the cost of a seminar. That's why agencies need to think of their modest board-training costs not as expenses, but as investments.

The Time for Training is Now

This April, elections will bring new members to park and recreation agency boards across the state. As I've often said, if you have a new board member, then the chemistry on your board can change substantially. Think of it this way, on a five-member board, each new person represents a 20 percent turnover rate.

Your board will function up to 20 percent less efficiently for each board member who is not fully trained to participate in the business of the board. If board members don't know what is expected of them, they might create their own expectations, some of which you might not like. That's why I hope to see every newly elected board member at the IAPD Legislative Conference on May 4 and especially at one of the New Commissioner Seminars that will take place May 21 at the Lemont Park District and June 18 at the IAPD Headquarters in Springfield.

Your board will function up to 20 percent less efficiently for each board member who is not fully trained to participate in the business of the board.

The agendas of the New Commissioner Seminars include sessions on "What it Takes to be an Effective Board Member," "Robert's Rules of Order and Board Procedures," "Legislative Advocacy" and "Stump the Speakers," a free-for-all question and answer session covering any facet of serving on an agency board. Remember, if you don't ask, you can't learn.

Check the IAPD web site (www.ILparks.org) and watch your mail and e-mail for more details and registration information for the Legislative Conference and New Commissioners Seminars.

Why Don't You Be New, Too?

No matter who you are, sometimes, through no fault of your own, you discover the hard way that there's always more to learn.

One of the players in Monday night tennis group recently signed up for private lessons. He's already got textbook form and plays a solid game. So I asked him why he'd bother to spend the money on lessons.

"I started playing back when we used small-

6 Illinois Parks and Recreation www.ILipra.org

sized wood racquets and I modeled my game after Bjorn Borg," he said. "Now we all have these graphite cannons and it's boom-boom serve and volley. It's a whole new game."

I wonder how many commissioners who have been serving on agency boards for a long time realize just how much their game has changed too.

Perhaps you've come to grudgingly accept the realities of tax caps. But do you realize that the legislature continues to tinker with the Open Meetings Act? And it's likely that your district - even if you serve a small district — will soon be targeted for unionization. The governor has just recently signed PA 93-1080 amending the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act so that after June 1 the act will apply to units of local government with five employees, instead of 35 or more employees. On top of that, unions, by law, are offered some highly creative ways to count to five. IAPD has responded to this new challenge by working in conjunction with the Illinois Municipal League and township officials to sponsor a series of seminars entitled "What to Do Before the Union Knocks on Your Door." See the IAPD web site for times and locations.

Unionization and changing legislation are just a couple examples of the new challenges boards are likely to face. If it's been a decade or so since you attended a New Commissioner Seminar, then I invite you to designate yourself as a new commissioner once again.

Yes, you'll review some fundamentals. But it never hurts experienced people to hear the basics again with a set of refreshed ears. You'll also come to the table with the experience to recognize and immediately put to use the innovative ideas you're bound to encounter.