New parks head for Vernon Hills

A recreation veteran who rose through the ranks to head the Wheeling Park District will assume those duties in Vernon Hills.

Jan Buchs has been selected as the new executive director of the Vernon Hills Park District. She'll assume the post that has been empty since last month with the retirement of Larry DeGraaf.

"She is extremely customer friendly, extremely customer service focused," said park board president David Doerhoefer. "She is very much into strategic planning, which is very important to the board."

DeGraaf had been on the job for more than 12 years, overseeing a variety of projects and improvements. The park board had been actively seeking a replacement before he left, and hired a consultant to do a national search.

Buchs and the board agreed to terms, but the contract will not be official until ratified by the board April 23.

"There's so much opportunity in Vernon Hills," she said. Some of the strategic planning initiatives being examined in Vernon Hills match her experience in Wheeling, she added.

"I was really impressed with the amount of open space and park space Vernon Hills has," she said.

Buchs joined the Wheeling district in 1993 as an aquatics coordinator. She worked through the system to become executive director in 2002.

The Wheeling Park District has much less open space, but like Vernon Hills it also has aquatic and community centers.

She said the Wheeling district is wrapping up a nearly two-year process to develop Heritage Park into an athletic complex, similar to one operated by the village in Vernon Hills.

She will work in Wheeling until May 1 and assume her new duties in Vernon Hills on May 18.