Naperville director discusses park district goals

Naperville Park District Executive Director Ray McGury must be doing something right.

Several of the goals outlined in a 12-page list of the district's "leadership team's" priorities already have been achieved.

The park board approved McGury's performance goals Thursday, 10 months after hiring the former Bolingbrook police chief to lead the district.

And while the district's entire leadership team is on the hook for the completion of the goals, McGury said the laundry list of nearly 100 items is his responsibility. He didn't seem to mind that the list wasn't specific to him.

"As executive director, ultimately you're responsible for all the goals," he said. "In the traditional sense they'll change next year and I'll have more broad-based goals, but in order to measure my performance, I'd rather have something than nothing."

Commissioners approved the leadership team's goals as McGury's to fulfill the terms of his contract, which was extended three months ago to three more years. The goals range from the specific, such as completing capital improvement projects, to the vague, such as increased marketing of the district and its assets, and even the mundane, such as attending at least two "networking events" each month.

"I attend two a day," McGury said. "That's who I am and I want to be very visible and accessible in the community."

Several of the goals were checked off the list even before they were approved because they were either accomplished or pushed back. The Centennial Beach bathhouse improvement project has been delayed a year because of permitting issues with DuPage County. The city's bike parking codes have been amended. A district environmental report card has been created. Patrols of park district trails were increased through a new ATV patrol program. And a compensation survey has been completed, although McGury said no recommendations from that survey have been implemented.

"To my knowledge the data is still valid," McGury said. "There could certainly be adjustments made based on our state of circumstances here."

McGury said many of the steps he'll take to achieve the performance goals will be based on the results of the community survey, which also were released Thursday. The survey indicates residents don't want any major capital improvement spending.

"We're not in the business of buying any extra property or building anything right now," McGury said. "But if something is to fall in our laps or there's a great deal out there, I'm not going to wait two or three years to go after it."

Some goals have no targeted completion dates, but the latest of any that do is Dec. 31, 2009. It's unclear if McGury will receive a new set of performance goals at the beginning of the new year.