We are happy to report that the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the Park District of Highland Park for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.  This is the 33rd consecutive year the Park District has received the award.  The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

Congratulations to our gymnastics team that competed on Saturday, March 4 in Schaumburg at the Spring Into Gymnastics Meet.  In the Level 3: 11-year-old division for the All-Around, Clara Rozenberg was awarded 4th place, Lena Whittman placed 3rd and Olivia Rogic was awarded 1st place.  In the Level 3: 12-year-old division for the All-Around award, Kaylee Lynch placed 3^rd and Noa Schwab came in 1st place.

Governor JB Pritzker, along with state and local leaders and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), today announced that the Park District of Highland Park was one of 118 park and recreation agencies throughout the State to receive an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant. The Park District of Highland Park was awarded a $600,000 grant to fund a portion of a Sunset Woods Park revitalization project, including the installation of a rain garden with native plantings and an interpretive sign, a new game area, the replacement and relocation of the 16-year-old basketball court to create a multi-use sports court, the replacement and relocation of the 21-year-old skate park, and a new wheel friendly plaza that creates a space for all ages and wheel activities. Sunset Woods Park is a 34-acre community park in downtown Highland Park that serves all residents. The Sunset Woods Revitalization Project seeks to enhance roughly 9 acres of the park by implementing initiatives from the park’s master plan.

The OSLAD grant program was designed to help communities fund land acquisition and development for parks and outdoor recreation projects.  Established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1986, OSLAD is a cost-sharing program between state and local governments that has become one of Illinois’ most popular grant programs. Since its establishment, OSLAD has awarded over $530 million for park projects throughout Illinois (including the awards announced today).  OSLAD grants typically provide up to 50% of funding for a project – excluding economically distressed communities where 100% of project costs have been covered. The other 50% is supplied by matching funds from the project’s local government agency.

“We are thrilled to be awarded the OSLAD grant to allow us to invest in Sunset Woods Park, our community’s central downtown park,” said Brian Romes, executive director for the Park District of Highland Park. “The Park District heard from many residents through the Sunset Woods Master Planning effort, and we are grateful for the support from the OSLAD grant program to be able to act on initiatives from that plan. The Park District is excited to begin engaging the community through the design process.”

The Park District of Highland Park is a member of the Highland Park Character Counts Steering Committee in collaboration with the City of Highland Park, North Shore School District 112, and the Highland Park High School, which honors nominees whose beliefs, attitudes and actions consistently exemplify the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.  

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2023 Character Counts Pillar Award, and we hope you will consider nominating worthy candidates from the Park District of Highland Park.  This year’s deadline is March 3, 2023. 

Nominees must live, work, volunteer, in Highland Park or attend a school in the North Shore School District 112 boundaries. Criteria for the nomination do not include activities performed within the normal scope of one’s job. Nominations must be submitted by someone other than a family member.

The Six Pillars of Character is an integral part of the Highland Park community philosophy. To become more productive citizens of the future, children need to develop a set of core values that they can build on and call on throughout their lives to guide their behavior and attitudes. They also need adults serving as role models of good character.  Six building blocks of character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship – form the foundation of character education. These building blocks are inseparable parts of a complete attitude that will help children reduce risk behaviors, improve achievement and develop personal integrity, and for adults to live together in a civil manner.

These goals cannot be accomplished through the efforts of any one teacher, parent or institution. The responsibility for developing a nation of morally conscious students must be shared by all. Only through shared commitment can we hope to raise the level of character consciousness.

The Park District of Highland Park had a significant presence at this past weekend’s Illinois Parks and Recreation Association’s (IPRA) Annual Conference, winning multiple awards and recognition. The Park District was presented with the Illinois Park and Recreation Association’s (IPRA) Outstanding Program Award for its Dia De Los Muertos special event. It is the association’s top award given to one agency out of over 2,000 from across Illinois for outstanding and unique achievements in developing and implementing a program. The Park District received several other top State of Illinois awards, including first place for best website, two first-place and two second-place awards for photography, and third place award for the best logo for The Preserve of Highland Park. 

The IPRA Board of Directors also presented the Park District of Highland Park staff and Board of Commissioners with its Annual Chair Award, recognizing the Park District for the exceptional care and support it provided to the Highland Park community in the hours, days, weeks, and months following the tragic shooting at the July 4th Parade. IPRA Board Chair Trisha Breitlow presented the award and shared the following:

We are happy to report that the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the Park District of Highland Park for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.  This is the 32nd consecutive year the Park District has received the award.   The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

Moody’s Investors Service assigned an Aaa to the Park District of Highland Park, IL’s $19.7 million General Obligation (Limited Tax) Debt Certificates, Series 2021. Moody’s maintains the Aaa issuer rating and Aaa general obligation limited tax (GOLT) rating on the district’s outstanding bonds. The district’s issuer rating represents Moody’s assessment of the hypothetical debt of the district supported by a general obligation unlimited tax (GOULT) pledge. The district does not currently have any rated debt supported by a GOULT pledge. Following the sale, the district will have $33.4 million in outstanding GOLT debt, all of which is rated by Moody’s.

RATINGS RATIONALE
The district’s Aaa issuer rating reflects its large and affluent tax base, strong financial position that is further bolstered by additional liquidity within its capital projects funds, a moderate debt burden and modest adjusted pension burden.

The absence of a distinction between the rating on the district’s GOLT debt and the issuer rating is based on the nature of the pledge, which is a first budget obligation payable from all available funds.

RATING OUTLOOK
Moody’s typically does not assign outlooks to local governments with this amount of debt.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN DOWNGRADE

• Significant erosion of the district’s tax base or demographic profile
• Deterioration in operating reserves or liquidity

LEGAL SECURITY
The Series 2021 debt certificates are a general obligation of the district payable from all legally available funds.

USE OF PROCEEDS
The Series 2021 debt certificates will finance refunding and new projects. A portion of the debt certificates will be used to partially refund the Series 2012 and 2013 debt certificates, which originally financed beach improvements, improvements to a tennis facility, park renovations and acquire and maintain park land. The remaining proceeds will finance various capital projects, including reconstruction of a recreation center and improvements to a boat launch
and dog beach.

PROFILE
Located about 26 miles north of the City of Chicago (Ba1 stable) in suburban Lake County (Aaa), the Park District of Highland Park continues to benefit from its favorable location on the North Shore of Lake Michigan. The district encompasses the City of Highland Park (Aaa stable) and a small portion of the Village of Deerfield (Aaa stable). The district serves a population of roughly 30,000.

To read the full press release, click here.

The Park District of Highland Park received state-wide recognition with an Illinois Association of Park District (IAPD) Best of the Best Award for Sportsmanship, honoring two of our outstanding volunteer coaches David and Andy Engle. Award winners will be recognized at the IAPD Best of the Best Awards Gala on October 15.

IAPD winners were selected from entries submitted throughout the state recognizing the “Best of the Best” park districts, forest preserves, conservation, recreation, and special recreation agencies in eight categories. For a complete list of winners, click here.

This award is truly an honor for the Park District, our Athletics Program, our fabulous coaches, and the Highland Park community!

Here is a synopsis of our winning Coaches:

Coaches Andy and David Engle have been with the Park District of Highland Park for three seasons as volunteer Travel Baseball Coaches. Both have volunteered well over 1000 hours throughout their three seasons. They have been instrumental to Highland Park’s baseball community on many levels. Andy and David embody what it means to be committed volunteers, from ensuring our playing fields are safe and adequate to recruit players to organizing home field tournaments. They instill teamwork, hard work, respect, safety, and a family environment while ensuring everyone is having fun. They do not coach to the scoreboard or concern themselves with the team’s record; however, their teams have been very successful. This past season, the 12U team they coached went 31-14 and won two out of five tournaments. They both are exemplary role models for their young players. They teach respect, dignity, sportsmanship, hard work, and pride in the community they represent. Andy and David are most deserving of the IAPD Good Sportsmanship Award.

Featured in the photo (L to R): Andy Engle, Sammy (Andy’s son), Noah (David’s son), David Engle

A recent episode “Storms, Sanctuary and Suckers” of the PBS series “Great Lakes Now” featured the work our Park District of Highland Park Natural Areas Department is doing to help scientists learn more about the Great Lakes. Natural Areas Manager Rebecca Grill and Program Volunteer Coordinator Liz Ricketts are featured in the episode.

The Park District of Highland Park is part of a Shedd Aquarium research project led by Shedd researcher Karen Murchie to track the movements of sucker fish across the Great Lakes. The sucker fish up until now has been kind of a mystery, but the incredible work being done has allowed a better understanding of their biology. The episode highlights the work Murchie, and her team has done to learn more about the fish that is such a vital part of our local ecosystem. Murchie explains that “if there was an academy award for fishes, she would give suckers the academy award for best supporting fish because of the amazing services they provide.”

The episode aired on PBS across the Midwest, and the full video is below.

The  Level 3 Gymnastics Team placed 2^nd at the AAU Central District Meet in Bourbonnais, IL on Sunday, May 2.  Individually, our gymnasts were represented on the podium in each of their age groups.  In the Junior A Division, Hannah Maletksy came in second on vault, bars, beam, and was awarded state champion on floor and all-around.  In the Junior C Division, Kenna Reed placed 8^th on vault, 2^nd on bars, 4^th on beam, 7^th on floor, and 3^rd all-around.  Also, in the Junior C Division, Sydney Genser placed 3^rd on bars, 5^th on beam, 9^th on floor, and 6^th on vault and all-around.

In the Senior B Division, four gymnasts received medals.  Charlie Weisbart placed 11^th on vault and bars, 2^nd on beam, 4^th on floor, and 7^th in all-around.  Naomi Rago placed 8^th on vault, 5^th on bars, 9^th on beam, 7^th on floor, and 6^th all-around.  Lauren Smiley placed 5^th on vault, 6^th on beam, 2^nd on floor, and 3^rd on bars and all-around.  Rounding out this age group was Fiona Brownstein who placed 4^th on beam, 2^nd on bars, and all-around and was awarded the state champion on vault and floor.

Picture: Bottom row L to R: Kenna Reed and Hannah Maletsky.

Back row L to R: Naomi Rago, Lauren Smiley, Fiona Brownstein, Coach Bruce Keeshin, Sydney Genser, Charlie Weisbart.