the heights of
A c h i e v e m e n t

IPRA President Bill Wald and 2007 IPRA Chairman Amy Charlesworth congratulate Consuelo and Frank Navarro

Frank and Consuelo Navarro — IPRA Citizen Volunteers of the Year

Frank and Consuelo Navarro have been volunteers at the Fox Valley Park District for about five years, but their love for people and providing social activities for the Hispanic community will last a lifetime. The "Edad de Oro" golden age Hispanic free social club they founded brings together men and women, ages 50 and older, to play games, share wonderful ethnic dishes and celebrate the holidays. Their meetings are conducted in Spanish. Members of the club hail from such places as Mexico, Cuba and Argentina. Because some of the members do not drive, the couple takes it upon themselves to provide reliable transportation so everyone can participate. The Navarros consider the members of the club to be family. Whether it's playing bingo, dominoes, loteria or guesstures, this couple is a dedicated and driving force in bringing people together for recreational activities.

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2007 IAPD Chairman Scott Triphahn, Rising Star Mark Gartland and IAPD President and CEO Ted Flickinger

Mark Gartland — IAPD Rising Star

The Rising Star award recognizes a newly elected board member who demonstrates exemplary performance of duties and responsibilities. This year's honoree is the president of the Park District of Oak Park's board of commissioners, Mark Gartland.

Gartland began his park and recreation career as a superintendent of recreation, becoming a certified parks and recreation professional and serving as president of the Suburban Parks and Recreation Association. In 2001, he volunteered for his park district's citizen-led infrastructure committee. With his guidance, the committee tackled the evaluation of park district infrastructure, making recommendations for immediate and long-range capital planning. That work led to his election to the park district board in April 2003. One of his earliest initiatives was to move forward with a stalled skate park project. He built support and found the means to build the popular active sport area. He has worked diligently to steer his district toward financial stability and excellence in service. As a member of Oak Park's Renew Our Parks Steering Committee, he worked with the media, developed strategies, communicated with the public, raised funds and ultimately engaged the community in the district's quest for more funding. In 2005, the citizens of Oak Park passed a tax referendum for the first time since 1968.

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Jeannette Huber — IPRA Young Professional of the Year Jeannette Huber, director of parks and recreation for the Alsip Park District, earned the IPRA Young Professional of the Year Award, an honor given to an individual with less than ten years of experience, but someone who shows a great deal of promise in becoming a future leader in the field. Huber was recognized not only for her work at Alsip, but also for her involvement with the South Suburban Park Recreation Professional Association, of which she has been treasurer, president-elect and president, as well as being named as the professional of the year for that group. At Alsip, she negotiated a deal to acquire property adjacent to one of the agency's largest parks. This led to an OSLAD grant application of $400,000 to further develop the land. She also convinced the school district to waive fees for the park district's use of the school facilities, saving thousands of dollars each year. And she is active in the Cal-Sag Trail effort, which will provide walking and biking trails to those living in the south suburbs, ultimately linking Lemont to Burnham.

2007 IAPD Chairman Scott Triphahn, 2007 IAPD Honored Professional Jan Buchs and IAPD President and CEO Ted Flickinger

Jan Buchs - IAPD Honored Professional

The Honored Professional award goes to an individual who works closely with citizens and IAPD to improve parks, recreation and conservation at the local and state levels. This year's award goes to Wheeling Park District Executive Director Jan Buchs.

Since becoming executive director in 2002, Buchs spearheaded a partnership with her village government to increase park acreage.

She also acted quickly when a land acquisition was threatened. When unincorporated portions of the park district's property were forcibly annexed from her district, she worked with the IAPD, state legislators and local officials to change Illinois law, so that no other park district would be subject to forced annexation. But, this law was not retroactive, so it did not affect her agency's situation. She fought for its passage simply because it was in the best interest of all Illinois park districts. Eventually, however, through her leadership and negotiation skills, her agency reclaimed that property.

Buchs serves on the boards of the Northwest Special Recreation Association and the NRPA Great Lakes Regional Council. She encourages board participation in IAPD workshops, and her agency supports such IAPD events as Parks Day at the State Capitol and the Legislative Conference. Her agency hosted a stop on the IAPD summer golf tour, completed a board self-evaluation and established an Eagle Eye program.

Ed Clift

Ed Clift - IPRA Professional Recognition

The IPRA Professional Recognition award goes to an individual with more than 10 years of full-time service, a person who has shown excellence in promoting parks and recreation on local and regional levels, a person who has had a profound impact on the field and the agency for which he or she works.

This year's recipient is Ed Clift, executive director of the Byron Forest Preserve District. He has substantially improved the district's financial health since his start there in 1994, making difficult but necessary decisions to transform an operation that was in the red by about $600,000 to its current state with no long-term debt. He developed an overall marketing program that generates awareness in the community for the district's efforts toward preservation, education and recreation. He has been instrumental in seeing that the agency's Heritage Farm became a reality, thereby preserving an important part of the district's history. Clift worked with the youth in his community, assisting with writing a grant for funding to foster the Stone Quarry recreation park, a 76-acre site that includes an 18-hole miniature golf course, an indoor and outdoor skate park, batting cages, a water splash area, playgrounds, a community center with an arcade room and a number of other recreational opportunities.

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Steve Pennock

Steve Pennock - IAPD Mike Cassidy Commissioner Community Service Award Oregon Park District President Steve Pennock was presented with the Mike Cassidy Commissioner Community Service award, which recognizes commissioners who have demonstrated the highest example of community service, personal integrity and ingenuity. From the beginning of his service on the board, Pennock was proactive in purchasing lands that contributed to the enjoyment of fellow citizens. In 1996, the board was faced with building a field house to serve both the park and school districts. To ensure that the project came to fruition, he served as the agency spokesperson and negotiated with the school to develop the field house into a top-of-the-line home for sporting events, concerts and children's activities. Pennock has also cultivated the relationship between the park district and the arts community. With his guidance, "arts in the parks" was created, and a new statue will be placed in the parks each year for 10 years. Pennock stepped forward when an 1830s school house was threatened with demolition. He knew that a largely undeveloped park would be the perfect spot for this living history museum. The school was moved, completely refurbished and now offers education and recreation programs. It was recently placed on the national historic register.

IAPD Chairman Mike Krost

IPRA Chairman Tracey Crawford

Passing the Gavel For IAPD, January 24-26 marked the end of Scott Triphahn's term as the 2007 chairman of the Board of Trustees. Triphahn, a commissioner for the Hoffman Estates Park District, turned the reigns over to Mike Krost, who has been a Trustee of the Chiliicothe Park District since 1995 and began serving on the IAPD board in March 2001. The IPRA held a similar changing of the guard at its annual business meeting on January 25. Tracey M. Crawford, CPRP, CTRS, superintendent of development for the Northern Suburban Special Recreation Association, is the new IPRA Chairman. She succeeds 2007 IPRA Chairman Amy Charlesworth, director of parks and recreation at the Rolling Meadows Park District.

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IPRA President Bill Wald, Robert Artz Distinguished Service Award winner Richard Grodsky and 2007 IPRA Chairman Amy Charlesworth

Richard Grodsky -IPRA Robert Artz Distinguished Service Award

The IPRA Robert Artz Distinguished Service award goes to Richard Grodsky, executive director of the Elmhurst Park District, The award is named in honor of Robert Artz who tragically lost his life in a plane crash in 1979. The Artz award goes to a person whose efforts have a lasting value.

Throughout his 30-year career, Grodsky has been a recognized leader and advocate for parks and recreation in the communities in which he has worked. He has reached out to community leaders. And he has formulated strong working relationships with other governmental agencies, not-for-profits and the private sector to promote parks, recreation and conservation on a local and regional level. For the past ten years, he has provided the leadership for the development and update of his district's strategic plan. Working with the board and staff, he designates projects for the plan based on extensive community feedback and needs assessments. His many years of experience in administrative operations and executive management include extensive interaction with regional electronic media; fiscal responsibility in the construction, management and evaluation of multi-million dollar budgets; and application of a logical and systematic team approach to problem solving. He believes that better decision-making occurs when employees work together as a team, since this improves the understanding of the issues involved by those who must carry out the decisions.

2007 IAPD Chairman Scott Triphahn, 2007 IAPD Commissioner of the Year David Mason and IAPD President and CEO Ted Flickinger

David Mason - IAPD Commissioner of the Year

DeKalb Park District Commissioner Dr. David Mason earned the IAPD's Commissioner of the Year, an award that recognizes a commissioner who shows outstanding qualities to support and promote parks, recreation and conservation in his or her community and throughout the state. The recipient also must be involved in IAPD.

Mason has served on his park board for more than twenty-five years. He has overseen the transformation of the DeKalb Park District from twelve parks and limited programs to more than thirty parks and numerous programs. In 2003, the agency earned a National Gold Medal.

Mason helped create a joint agreement with the local high school, bringing enhanced athletic opportunities to his community's youth.

He was an IAPD board member for eight years, serving as chairman in 2006. He participates in almost all commissioner education programs. He has served on and/or chaired nine IAPD committees. He also serves on the national level as a trustee for the National Recreation and Park Association and as a member of NRPA's Great Lakes Regional Council.

IPRA President Bill Wald, 2007 IPRA Distinguished Service to Leisure Award winner Ronald Lehman and 2007 IPRA Chairman Amy Charlesworth

Ronald Lehman - IPRA Distinguished Service to Leisure Award The IPRA Distinguished Service to Leisure Award recognizes an individual or organization that has made a significant and continued impact on the field of parks and recreation. The honor is not awarded annually, but only after nomination, review and a vote of the IPRA Board of Directors. It exists to herald contributions so significant that they must never be forgotten. This year the IPRA board chose to bestow the award on Ronald Lehman. Lehman is the immediate past chairman of the NRPA Board of Directors and a past chairman of the IAPD Board of Trustees. He also has served on the Illinois Park District Liquid Asset Fund Board of Trustees, serving as chairman from 1995 to 1997. In addition to his work as a member of the local park board, Lehman has served his community as a former member of the village board of trustees and as a charter member of the Channahon-Minooka Rotary Club. The former principal of Minooka Community High School was also named Channahon Citizen of the Year.

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Representative Harry Osterman

Representative Harry Osterman is an IAPD Legislator of the Year

Representative Harry Osterman of Chicago was named as an IAPD Legislator of the Year and honored at the Soaring to New Heights All-Conference Awards Luncheon on January 25.

Representative Osterman was the sponsor of, and catalyst for, the passage of the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement that authorizes Illinois to join with fellow states bordering the Great Lakes to protect these important natural resources from environmental degradation and unauthorized diversion.

As a member of the House Environmental Caucus, Representative Osterman has been a champion for the continued funding of the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development program and the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund.

In 2007, his work to pass House Joint Resolution 55 encouraged members of the house to set aside funding for open space acquisition in any capital bill passed by the Illinois general assembly by including one hundred million dollars on an annual basis for the Illinois Special Places Acquisition, Conservation and Enhancement (or iSPACE) Program.

Representative Sydney Mathias of Buffalo Grove has also been named an IAPD Legislator of the Year. A family emergency prevented his attendance at the awards luncheon in January. The association will honor his achievement at a future event.

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