As a young couple with a growing family, my wife and I bought our home and moved to the area as first-time homeowners about 8 years ago. We knew this place would be ideal for us to grow old and raise our children to come. With the amount of green space and great schools, this was our future haven.
Even with three kids and two jobs, I found time to volunteer to coach youth soccer programs for our neighborhood kids. As we spent time with soccer, it dawned on me that a growing number of families sign up their kids to similar programs in neighboring towns instead of Medinah.
A few years ago, I started attending the monthly board meetings regularly and tried to be a voice for my community as best as I could, talked to my neighbors and other residents, parents wherever possible, and I realized that I was not the only resident who expected more from our district.
I strongly believe that with a board that is more engaged with the community, more hands on leadership, we can turn this ship around before it’s too late! That is why I am running for Medinah Park District Board. I look forward to speaking to you about our parks and hope to earn your vote.
Endorsements
Policies to Turn Our Parks Around
- I would like to inspect and go through every budget from the last five years, item by item, programs with their revenue generation and attendance records.
- I would like to engage with the County to explore how to implement TERM LIMITS for board members by limiting two 4-year terms, so that the board is more open for fresh ideas and new leadership instead of the same people occupying our board for decades.
- I would like to push to completely modernize our digital/social media engagement by starting with our website. It took this board two years or more of hearing me pressing for a complete overhaul of our website before the current park administration began planning on some changes right before an election. Timing is everything, I guess.
- I would like our community outreach efforts to increase tenfold and would like us to start with a “citizens’ advisory committee” that meets quarterly to give us direct, unbiased feedback from residents, people like you! The people who own and use the parks and facilities the most.
- The gap between Medinah and neighboring towns is widening in many aspects other than top management’s pay scale. My focus would be to push for implementation of a better balance in staff compensation and benefits, stop pay raises for anyone who gets a six figure salary with a benefits package for such poor performance over the years, and to make Medinah parks more attractive to new talent. We need passionate, energetic and idealist individuals.