Prospect Heights native returns as facilities superintendent of park district

A Prospect Heights native has returned to serve the park district of his childhood in a professional capacity.

Mark Grassi, now residing in Crystal Lake with his wife and three children, has been named superintendent of parks & facilities for the Prospect Heights Park District.

"It is surreal to be working in Prospect Heights," Grassi said in a statement. "As a kid I played baseball on these fields and swam at this pool. Now I am on the team conducting playground inspections and planning for the fields and parks."

Before earning a degree in environmental sciences and studies from DePaul University, Grassi attended St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic School in Prospect Heights and St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights.

His more than dozen years of parks experience includes serving as a groundsman and crew leader for the Arlington Heights Park District, and then supervisor of its Frontier Park.

Grassi comes to Prospect Heights after serving as environmental education manager for the Bartlett Park District.

He also was a founding member and the lead event organizer for Envirogroup, the Arlington Heights Park District's first community-driven service group committed to conservation and environmental volunteerism.

Grassi's career has included experience with parks and maintenance departments, facility management, ecological restoration, outdoor swimming pools, stormwater mitigation, culvert installation, and arboriculture, among other areas.

He's assisted with playground and facility construction projects. His work with horticulture and tree care includes being certified as an applicator of prescribed or controlled burns of natural areas.