'I've traded my gun for my Blackberry'

When Ray McGury moves into his new Naperville Park District office today, he'll bring a plaque his parents gave him years ago.

Titled "Your Name," it's a reminder of the importance of a person's reputation.

"You got it from your father, it was all he had to give, so it's yours to use and cherish for as long as you may live," reads the verse by poet Edgar Albert Guest. "If you lose the watch he gave you it can always be replaced, but a black mark on your name Son can never be erased."

McGury's name - its familiarity in Naperville and its association with leadership - landed the longtime police officer his new job as executive director of a park district that has struggled through a series of leaders in recent years in a so far unsuccessful effort to find stability at the top.

With no professional park experience under his belt, but what he says is an eagerness to learn, McGury takes the district's helm armed only with a one-year, $135,000 contract.

"I've traded my gun in for my Blackberry and I'm done," he said. "I'm well satisfied as to where I'm at right now in life and I couldn't be happier to come back to Naperville and get started."

His resume

McGury's name has been associated with police work for 27 years. He spent about two decades on Naperville's police force and the past three years as Bolingbrook's chief.

The 48-year-old has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from St. Xavier University in Chicago and a master's of public administration from Northern Illinois University. He has attended the Federal Emergency Management Association Integrated Emergency Management program and Rocky Mountain Executive Management program.

He is also a longtime volunteer, spending 15 years coaching football and baseball for Naperville Park District along with giving his time to the YMCA, Bolingbrook Park District, United Way, Special Olympics and St. Baldrick's Cure for Pediatric Cancer.

"Ray cares about people and he cares about service to the community and I think both of those things will help him very much in terms of leading the park district," Naperville police Chief David Dial said. "I think he's a natural leader and did a great job in the police department when he was here and I have no doubt he'll do a great job in the park district."

McGury's familiarity with the city was a strong selling point for park commissioners who say he already knows city leaders and residents and has a sense of the community's priorities and character.

"The community has already accepted him and he already knows quite a few folks and that goes a long way to being effective," Commissioner Ron Ory said.

Mayor George Pradel is among those who knows McGury from their time together in the Naperville Police Department. He said McGury's "integrity, honesty and command of presence is fantastic."

"His love has always been there for the park district but he commands respect because he knows everybody, deals with them fairly and squarely and people have a normal way of just clinging to him," Pradel said.

Hiring McGury was not a unanimous decision by the park board. Vice President Marie Todd and Commissioner Mary Wright both cast dissenting votes. Wright said she was troubled by the selection process, not by McGury. Todd did not explain her vote.

Other commissioners and city leaders have been quick to heap praise on McGury, but they've done the same for other new directors over the past dozen or so years - all of whom later left under less than ideal circumstances.

Whether McGury breaks that string and lives up to the hype remains to be seen.

His experience

While McGury's name is associated with a long list of accolades, he admits the "800-pound gorilla" is what he lacks - park district experience.

His interest in the district is not new. In addition to his volunteer efforts, he ran unsuccessfully for the park board in 1997 and was a finalist in last year's executive director search that resulted in the ill-fated hiring of Daniel Betts.

His professional resume, however, does not include a parks and recreation degree, certification or job experience.

It's a hole that's perplexing to Bill Wald, CEO of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and a Naperville resident, who says park directors "have to be able to talk the talk."

That includes being knowledgeable about issues over a broad spectrum - revenue bonds, ADA compliance, ballet classes, golf course operations, soil tests, aquatics and more.

"I'm not judging his character or his ethics," Wald said. "I just don't think he probably has the amount of experience for a town of this magnitude and size that I would like to see personally as a resident."

When Betts resigned this summer after just five months on the job, Wald says he offered to help the park district with its search for a new director at no charge but was turned down. McGury was hired a few weeks later.

McGury says he understands Wald's concern and already has discussed it with his new staff. He has told them he'll be doing a lot of listening, observing and asking some "stupid questions" along the way. Still, he believes his leadership skills will translate.

"I don't want for one second to diminish people that have parks and rec degrees. Believe me, I understand it and I get it," McGury said. "Executive directors and staff members that have that, they are the experts, so I've got a lot to learn. But I think I also have a lot to offer."

In Bolingbrook, McGury oversaw a $20 million police department budget and 180 employees. He said he didn't memorize every citation on the books as a police officer and likewise wouldn't expect a park director to know every last detail of district operations, but he'll have the staff and resources to get answers he needs along the way.

Commissioners also are defending McGury's capabilities. President Suzanne Hart said the district already has experts in every department and needs someone with the leadership skills to oversee and coordinate them.

"You can't go down the street where a normal taxpayer doesn't turn and say 'great program' or that their child did so well in soccer or in day care. We've mastered that. We don't need that," she said. "What we maybe have done wrong (in the past) is grabbing someone from a (park) district and try to change that."

Wald said he would offer McGury the opportunity to participate in professional development courses.

"If that is going to help me do a better job as executive director, then tell me where to sign up," McGury said.

His challenge

The Naperville Park District has had some issues with its own name over the past decade. While its parks and programs are award-winning, some of its executive directors and commissioners have struggled with their own reputations.

The district went through nine directors in 12 years, including interims, before choosing McGury late last month. The most recent, Betts, left in August - with an $86,000 buyout - after just five months on the job citing "philosophical and operational differences."

Before Betts, Barbara Heller was at the helm for less than three years and left in March 2007 after coming under fire for her handling of plans for a proposed indoor recreation center.

In 2003, then-Executive Director Ken Brissa and the district were investigated by Naperville police for "questionable administrative practices." The state's attorney's office did not find criminal wrongdoing but raised questions about the district's spending and administrative practices. Brissa stepped down in 2004 as part of a $100,000 settlement.

The park board also has had its share of trouble. Commissioners over the years have been criticized for a lack of transparency and a tendency to let arguments get in the way of progress. Earlier this year they brought in an outside consultant to help them work through their problems and promptly fired him.

McGury is quick to point out how well park programs and facilities have been running despite the turmoil and said disagreements are healthy as long as the board members maintain a level of respect. He said he's not looking for a rubber stamp from commissioners or staff members.

"You don't want a board of people that nod their head up and down, you want people that have strong opinions one way or the other," he said.

He is no stranger to conflict, either. While in Bolingbrook he faced the unsolved disappearance of Stacy Peterson, the wife of former Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson, which garnered national attention. He has said repeatedly the case - which did not begin on his watch - did not play into his decision to seek the park district position.

His future

Since being hired two weeks ago, McGury has been using his free time before and after work in Bolingbrook to meet with Naperville park staff, commissioners, city leaders and residents.

He is compiling a list from staff members of things the district is doing well and those that need improvement. He's also talking to them about how the district is going about achieving its mission.

Today he'll kick off his tenure with a tour of the facilities followed by a leadership meeting Tuesday.

He's hoping to offer stability to the district and has said despite his one-year contract, he plans to stick around.

Of course, that's also what his predecessors said.

"This man is a born leader," Hart said. "It's definitely good and if he keeps up at this speed I really can't imagine what we're going to do. We're going to look back at this in five, six years ... and not remember what it was like to have Ray not there."

McGury is staking his name on it.

"The only thing in life you have is your last name," he said. "It's given to you by your parents and when all else fails if you can look in the mirror and you can uphold the values and morals and not tarnish your name, (then) money, power, whatever means nothing. If you're a good citizen and you can do that, that means everything."

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