New Hanover Park parks chief aims to transform once-struggling agency

Newly appointed Executive Director Steve Bessette is eager to step up the improvements to the Hanover Park Park District he’s been trying to implement from less influential positions since joining the once-struggling agency three years ago.

Encouraged by voters’ approval of an $8 million borrowing plan in March to replace the nearly half-century-old fabric roofs that threatened the viability of the revenue-generating Community Center, Bessette believes this will be a year residents recall as a turning point.

“Maintaining the status quo is not even an option,” he said. “Our past history wasn’t very bright. We had a reputation that wasn’t that flattering.”

Joining the park district as superintendent of parks & planning during the still dark days of COVID in 2021, Bessette said he began making changes to the operation that have resulted more profitability in the past three years than the decade that preceded them.

Upon the retirement of his predecessor Bob O’Brien last fall, Bessette became interim director and focused efforts to attract and retain more passionate professionals to serve the district. Private sector models are being adapted to provide more efficient delivery of services, he said.

Among other recent changes are the creation of a deputy director position and hiring a more-seasoned law firm when the previous attorney retired.

And as the newly named executive director, Bessette is embarking on a yearlong process to create the district’s first comprehensive plan in decades to serve as a map of improvement for the following five years.

At 38, Bessette is the youngest executive director of a park district in Illinois. The post has been his goal since he began in the field. He feels at home in Hanover Park, he said.

“The residents of this community are so extraordinarily humble and passionate about the community,” he said. “We’re a diaspora, a multicultural community.”

The fact that residents heard the message of this year’s referendum campaign told Bessette that a stronger interaction with the community was achievable.

“This is something no one thought we could do,” he said. “It gave us a really good temperature that the community is listening. They said, ‘give us the leisure opportunities that we want.’”

Late last month, the board of commissioners approved a three-year contract with Bessette with a starting salary of $115,000.

Bessette has a bachelor’s degree in recreation, park and tourism administration from Western Illinois University and prior experience in Romeoville, the Kane County Forest Preserve District, Naperville and Hoffman Estates.

“I was looking for a young hotshot who would come from some other district and make their mark on our district,” board President Mark Elkins said. “And it turned out that guy was Steve. He actually accomplishes things. He doesn’t just say things.”

Bessette soon will begin pursuing a master’s degree in recreation management from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as well.