ACROSS THE BOARD

Learning from a Legend

For more than 35years, Donald F. Bresnan served the parks and recreation movement. All of us, especially newly elected commissioners, have much to learn from him.

Its my honor to share this issue's boardmanship column with a true legend in parks and recreation: Mr. Donald F. Bresnan (b. March 12,1922 - d. March 17,1999), commissioner for the Champaign Park District for 36 years. Don was a friend and mentor to me and to so many in the field, both professionals and commissioners.

His parks and recreation resume is long and decorated with service on the board of directors and as president of the Illinois Association of Park Districts, the National Recreation and Park Association's board of trustees, hundreds of keynote speeches as well as articles on boardmanship. We called him "Mr. Commissioner," because he exemplified the best in volunteer public service to a park district.

On June 23,1994, the Illinois Association of Park Districts videotaped a conversation with Don Bresnan and me to capture his insights regarding serving as a volunteer park commissioner so that others could learn from him. His answers to my many questions have particular relevance for the many new commissioners who take their oath of office after the April 13th elections.

TED FLICKINGER: What motivated you to become a commissioner?

DON BRESNAN: Well, I was a single issue commissioner like most people. I had a reason to run. Actually it started out in 1957 when I was coaching the American Legion Baseball team in Champaign. The baseball field was in pretty sad shape. We had to cut the grass ourselves to play on it. So, like all good citizens I marched over to the mayor and pointed out that we were having a problem... .We had our field fixed up and three months later I was appointed to the Playground and Recreation Commission by the mayor. It didn't take me long to figure out that all the money was in the park district. The budget for the commission was less than $30,000 so I ran for the park district in 1963 and here I am.

Dr. Ted Flickinger IAPD Executive Director

TED: Your agency has received three National Gold Medal Awards and your director has received some of the highest honors, so you must be doing some things right. What's been the secret of your success? DON: We keep the natives happy. We keep the residents satisfied. We give them what they want. We don't make crusaders, we make supporters. If anybody comes in and has a complaint before we let 'em go, we've got them doing something as a volunteer in a positive manner. Because the average resident wants services, doesn't want to bother with going to the meetings, doesn't want their taxes raised, but wants more of everything. And my description has always been "they want us to do more and spend less both at the same time," and while that's not possible, you do the best you can.

TED: What's your philosophy for being a successful commissioner?

DON: We just want to be the best park district in the United States. That's the way we put it. There are four others with me all the time, and we all have opinions of our own. But we agreed: Let's go for the gold and no matter what we're doing lets have the best program or the best facility or anything else we can get. To do this we have to scratch and dig and beg and borrow, but we end up with what the residents want and they're proud of it. And I think the best way to evaluate any park district is not to ask the commissioners and the staff, ask the real estate people what they're saying when they're trying to sell houses. Boy, you learn a lot there. If the real estate people are talking about the park district to the people who are looking to buy houses and moving into the community, you did it.

TED: As far as working with your fellow commissioners, it takes a team effort, doesn't it?

DON: Oh, sure. We are a standard park district with five commissioners and you gotta get two people to agree with you or you move on to the next subject. No sense in wasting each others' time.

TED: Wasn't it you who came up with the slogan "Let's approve the minutes and not waste the hours?" You changed the whole philosophy of a board meeting and that no board meeting should be longer than an hour.

DON; Sometimes it runs a little longer, but normally it's

Bresnan's motivation to serve as a board member: "I was one who came on for a specific reason, got interested and got involved in everything else too."

6/ Illinois Parks and Recreation

not because of discussion among the board members. It's because staff's putting on a show-and-tell about something or a group of youngsters are coming in from their program and showing us what they do and items of that type. And we're perfectly willing; they're the residents, the people we're serving.

TED: I don't know of any other board member who has traveled the country as much as Don Bresnan. He has met more commissioners involved on the national level than probably any one, and in addition has been in contact with some of the top professionals in parks and recreation today. What are some key attributes of the outstanding professionals?

DON: It's easy to answer that one because most of the outstanding professionals are in the state of Illinois.

First, they have to be excellent managers of people....They must have the ability to reach out to other local government units, taking the initiative to reach out so there will be more intergovernmental cooperation in their community. And I really believe that if the professionals reach 60 percent of the way they'll be successful. But if they're going to sit there contemplating their navel and not communicating with the other municipal departments, agencies and organizations and so forth, they're not going to be successful. The good ones are reaching out.

And there's another thing that you would add in recent years. All of a sudden everyone has discovered that the non-tax revenue is half or more of their total revenue. And basically its fees and charges....And that's necessary because there isn't enough revenue from taxes to meet the residents' needs. They want more facilities and services and programs but they don't want to pay any more money for it...I've said for years, the professional's got to be a businessman. He can't just sit there and wait for the tax collector to mail the check. He's got to go out and be creative. And I have seen some of the most fantastic professionals creating unusual things. One of the reasons I keep going to all of these state and national meetings is to listen to these people talk, take some notes and go home and try it ourselves. It's a continuing, changing movement, parks and recreation, and if you don't stay with it and stay ahead of it, you're going to lose out.

TED: One of the trends IAPD is tracking is that there aren't many Don Bresnans out there. Sixtyone percent of our membership has fewer than six years of experience of being a commissioner. What is your advice for new commissioners?

DON: I think first and foremost I tell them to take their time and get to know the other commissioners on the board. And I would remind them that they can't just run in with their special project and want everything to stop until they win on that because they've got to get two more votes so they can move on to the next subject. Take your time, learn and understand about the other commissioners.

I would point out to them all of the publications that have been written by commissioners for commissioners. They run everything from the little handout that I wrote some years ago that you can put in your pocket or purse, or the specific and practical book that Ted wrote on commissioners: what they do, how they do it and everything else. I would advise them to read those books and if they don't have 'em go to your administrator and tell them to buy one for them.

And third is to go to every meeting outside the district you can on parks and recreation. Go to the conventions, go to the seminars and everything else....Talk to people. Do you do this? Why do you do this? Is this successful? You can get references from all these people because the commissioners are not competitive with each other. We all have the same job in a different geographical location. The professionals do it all the time, and they do it very effectively.

TED: As a commissioner, how do you talk to your legislators?

DON: We don't have any problems with our legislators because their kids are in the programs. We don't ask for a formal meeting or anything else. We go out on the softball field and talk to him while his kid's playing third base or something else. That's the best way to do it. And show him what the benefit would be to the people in his district when he's standing in the district watching it happen.

TED: When we talk about Don Bresnan in the future, how would you like to be remembered?

DON: I just think that—and I said this back when I started—I want to leave the Champaign Park District better than I found it. I don't think you can measure it any different than that.... I don't need a statue on a horse.

Bresnan's Advice for New Board Members: "I would remind them that they can't just run in with their special project and want everything to stop until the/win on that because they've got to get two more votes so they can move on to the next subject. Take your time, learn and understand about the other commissioners.

Don Bresnan will be remembered by all who knew him, board members and professionals, as a giant in the field who educated so many about the duties and responsibilities of a board member, and that's why we call him "Mr. Commissioner." - by Ted Flickinger, Ph.D.,

May/June 1999 /7