Fox Valley Park District interviewing director candidates

Fox Valley Park District will conduct final interviews Saturday, Oct. 2, for executive director candidates to replace the retiring Steve Messerli.

The board will deliberate after the final interviews, but hopes to have a finalist selected by Oct. 18, park district spokesman Jeff Long said.

"We're looking for someone with strong leadership skills and someone who can direct our large organization and continue in the direction we have set fourth," park board President Rose Smilgys said. "We're looking for a person who is strong in finances ... and also people that are able to work with a diverse community such as ours."

The district hired Voorhees and Associates, a Deerfield-based recruitment consulting company, to conduct a national search for the next executive director. The company's owner and president, Heidi Voorhees, said 89 people applied for the position. The company narrowed the field to 17 candidates and the park district interviewed six of them.

Messerli, the current director, announced his plans in July to retire at the end of the year. Messerli took the position in 2005.

"You know, when it's time, it's time. And I've decided it's time for me to start enjoying so many of these great parks that I've seen so many of our residents enjoy," he told the Daily Herald in July. "It's one thing to enjoy them from my position of overseeing them but it's a whole other world to enjoy them leisurely."

Fox Valley Park District serves more than 200,000 people in Aurora, Montgomery and surrounding areas and is the second-largest park district in Illinois.