Park District of Oak Park

3 www.pdop.org Dear Residents, Every February the Park District of Oak Park recognizes outstanding citizens and organizations in appreciation of their outstanding contribution for the advancement of parks and recreation in our community. is year Community Service Awards were presented to McLouis "Mac" Robinet and the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory. Mac Robinet is a member of the Park District's Greening Advisory Committee. In early 2016, he reached out to Executive Director Jan Arnold to encourage the exploration of a partnership with a developer looking to lease a roof space for solar energy. Aer numerous conversations, the Park Board entered into a long term agreement with Realgy LLC. for the installation of a 100kW solar system on Ridgeland Commons' roof. e panels, installed in late 2016, are producing 125,000 kilowatt-hours which is equal to the amount of energy needed to power over 12 average Illinois homes every year. ank you, Mac, for bringing this partnership to fruition and making our organization a little more earth-friendly. e Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory have been supporting the Oak Park Conservatory through financial donations, volunteers, programs, special events and more, for over 30 years. Many of the renovation projects completed at the Conservatory are due to the generosity of the Friends including the Conservatory Center addition, updates to all of the display houses and growing houses throughout the Conservatory, the addition of the Rubinstein Garden and most recently the Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden, named in honor of the Friends founder, which opened in 2015. e Friends have helped to make the Conservatory a vital and active destination for local, regional and global nature and plant lovers. e Park District extends its sincerest gratitude to FOPCON for their ongoing generosity and support. An Earth-Moving Community Collaboration e Park District has been working to improve drainage at Taylor Park for several years. With its location on a continental divide and with ongoing subsurface water issues, standing water persists in the east end of the park for most of the year. A fen (otherwise called a wetland area) was installed at Taylor Park in 2012, as part of the park renovation project, to help address this issue. Beginning in June, the fen will be expanded to the north and drain tiles will be installed at Taylor Park due to a generous donation from Oak Park AYSO. is soccer organization is covering the cost of the entire project totaling $84,500 which is slated for completion before the fall soccer season begins. e Park District wishes to express its sincere thanks for your partnership. It is collaborations such as this that make our agency strong and benefits our entire community. See you in the parks, Paul Aeschleman, President Park District of Oak Park Board of Commissioners 3 Board of Park District Commissioners Regular Park Board Meetings are generally held on the third ursday of each month and the Committee of the Whole (COW) Meetings are generally held on the first ursday of the month. All meetings are held at 7:30P at the John L. Hedges Administrative Center, 218 Madison Street, Oak Park. Public comment is welcome at these meeting. ere is no COW meeting in August. Kathleen Porreca Commissioner Kathleen.Porreca@pdop.org Paul Aeschleman President Paul.Aeschleman@pdop.org Victor Guarino Vice-President Victor.Guarino@pdop.org Sandy Lentz Secretary Sandy.Lentz@pdop.org David Wick Treasurer David.Wick@pdop.org 3 Community Service Award recipient, Mac Rubinet Friends of the Conservatory Executive Director, Beth Cheng and Board President, Ellen Kuner.

• Cover