On the record with ... Greg Petry

Times have changed since Greg Petry, executive director of the Waukegan Park District, began working with the district more than 25 years ago.

But adapting to those changes is just part of the job for Petry, who recently earned the Certified Park and Recreation Executive certification granted by the National Certification Board in conjunction with the National Recreation and Park Association.

Petry was one of the first to receive the mastery-level certification for park and recreation professionals, along with two other park district directors in Illinois.

Petry went on the record with Lake County Journal reporter Cassandra Dowell to discuss his job as the park district's executive director, the changing role of parks and recreation departments and the district's future plans for expansion.

Dowell: What are some of your responsibilities as executive director?
Petry: My job here as basically the CEO of the park district is to be the person that really coordinates all the long-range planning, strategic planning [and] capital planning of the district. My job is basically to be thinking six months, a year, three years, five years, down the road. My job is to work with the board and the public to implement our long-range plans, goals and strategic plans.

How did you become interested in parks and recreation work?
I grew up in New Jersey, and I always worked for the parks and recreation department since I was 15 – all through high school, all through college. I've been doing it for a long time. It's not a job. It's not work. It's a lifestyle. It's something I love doing and will continue to do for a long time. 

Why are parks and other recreational activities important to a community?
They're a tremendous benefit. In parks and recreation, we talk about four major benefits.
First, it benefits individuals. When you look at the parks, people go to parks as individuals to exercise [and] to get fresh air. When people connect with the environment and nature, they're healthier. Parks provide great places for families to go, safe environments to play in, to learn and to grow and to experience nature.

Parks obviously benefit the environment by protecting open space, by having trees and wetlands, [they] help provide fresh water and clean air that we as human beings need.
The fourth benefit is that a lot of these things do have an economic impact. When we build a park, it provides jobs for construction. People are spending money in the parks. People are buying sporting goods equipment. They're buying walking shoes.

What are some of the changes parks and recreation departments are experiencing?
That's one of the reasons I love this field and I got into it. There really is something new every day to address and deal with. The needs of the community change. For example, when I first started [in Waukegan] 25 years ago, the Hispanic population was about 5 percent. Now, it's estimated to be over 60 percent. We've had to adjust to those changes over the years and to the needs of the community.
And, I think, in the country things have changed. When I was a little kid, we used to go out and play and the parks would have recreation leaders. Well, we don't do those things anymore because there's stranger danger and parents are reluctant to just let their kids go out to the park. Even if there's an organized activity, parents want to be close by. So, that's changed a lot. People want structure. They want to know where their kids are. They want to know what the benefits of [programs] will be. They want to have something that's going to relate to their academic progress [and] their physical development ...
A lot more safety standards have gone into place. There's a lot more documentation for legal purposes that has to be done ... There's all kinds of federal and state mandates that we now have to follow that 25 years ago were just unheard of and nonexistent. 

How do you keep updated on changing and new regulations?
The National Recreation and Parks Association provides us with things that are on the national level. The Illinois Association of Park Districts provides us with a lot of things that are going on at the state level. And, the Illinois Park and Recreation Association is another resource. So, between those three resources, they keep us up to date with new trends, [and] legal requirements. They provide us with resources [and] training opportunities. We also belong to the [Park District Risk Management Agency] ... So, between those four, we get a lot of helpful information.

What role does safety play in the planning process?
It's everything. For example, when we have special events, we have our risk managers involved. They go through the day's activities [and] what's going to take place. Then, prior to the event, they're out at the site where the event's being held. They do a walk-through. They talk about potential safety issues and they tweak what may occur that day. And on the day [the event] is occurring, there are people there related to safety.
And, the same thing when we're developing a facility, or a park. We're having as many people look at it for safety issues and concerns – safety is No. 1.

As technology offers evolving forms of entertainment, what's something you hope youth and others get out of local parks and recreation programs?
We have all kinds of initiatives to get people moving and outdoors. We've integrated a lot of that into our summer camp programs – eating well and getting outside. I can't emphasize enough: just being active pays tremendous dividends in your health and fitness. People live longer if they're healthier, as opposed to sitting inside and being sedentary.

What's on the horizon for the Waukegan Park District?
We've got a lot of exciting things happening. We're kind of in a planning mode because we're waiting for this economic downturn to either flatten out or to get better. So, we've kind of held back. We're not taking on any major projects right now.
We have done some major plans for the future. We're looking at phase two of our sports park. We're looking at an expansion of our museum and we're looking to improve our aquatic facilities. So, we've done some preliminary planning in all three of those to prepare ourselves for when the economy does improve and we can issue more bonds for these improvements.
But, at this time, they're just in the planning stage for when the time is right. We have a lot of planning initiatives, but no major spending initiatives right now.