After the resignation of board of commissioners’ vice-president Mike Reid in July, the remaining four Skokie Park District commissioners have, per board policy, appointed Elsa Fischer as the district’s fifth commissioner. She was sworn in and installed Tuesday at the September meeting of the board. The remainder of Fischer’s term will be up for election in April 2025.
A two-year resident of Skokie, Fischer brings more than 35 years of professional experience in parks and recreation to Skokie. For the past five years she has been a parks and recreation consultant for BerryDunn, headquartered in Portland, Maine. In this role, she helps agencies across the country with their planning efforts, including leading strategic plans, master plans, and feasibility studies. Fischer specializes in community engagement, assessing recreation departments, and conducting visioning sessions.
Prior to joining BerryDunn, Fischer worked for four Illinois park districts (Forest Park, Downers Grove, Northbrook, and Glenview) over the course of 33 years. At all four she worked in the recreation division, managing staff, creating department budgets, and overseeing a variety of facilities, programs, and events.
Fischer graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in leisure studies and a earned a master’s degree in recreation administration from Aurora University. In recognition of her demonstrated commitment to the field of parks and recreation, she was conferred the University of Illinois’ Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism Practitioner Award in 2015.
In addition to memberships with the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, the National Recreation and Park Association, and the City Parks Alliance, she is a founding owner of the Collective Resource Compost Cooperative in Evanston.
Members of the board of park commissioners are elected by the residents of Skokie and are responsible for setting policies and procedures that best benefit the park district and community. The board adopts a budget, levies property taxes and is responsible for hiring and evaluating the executive director. In addition, the board elects a president and vice president and appoints a secretary, treasurer and attorney. Board members serve as liaisons between various community organizations and committees.
The Skokie Park District’s other current commissioners are President Susan Aberman, Vice President Ezra Jaffe, Antonia Kasalo-Terihaj and Courtney Williams. The board of commissioners meet at the Weber Leisure Center, with regular monthly meetings held every third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m.