Today the DeKalb Park District officially welcomed David Mogle, former executive director of Kankakee Valley Park District, as its new executive director.

Mogle replaced Dave Emanuelson, who resigned as the park district’s executive director last August.

Mogle plans to map out goals as he gets to know the staff and can evaluate more effectively where the district has been and what it wants to accomplish.

“We’ll work on providing good service and a professional department, and everything seems to be in place for that to happen,” he said.

Mogle served as the executive director for the Kankakee Valley Park District for 11 years.

At the Kankakee Valley Park District, he and other staff worked hard to renovate the parks in the area, obtain several sources of funding, develop intergovernmental agreements with other entities, complete several projects with the Kankakee hospitals and develop new park areas.

“During that time, there wasn’t a lot of money and not a lot of growth in the Kankakee area, so we had to find alternate sources of revenue besides taxes,” Mogle said.

Over time, Mogle said, he has developed strong customer relations skills.

“I’ve nurtured a trade for bringing people together,” he said. “We’re here to serve and send people away feeling good about their experience.”

In addition to working for the Kankakee Valley Park District, Mogle also served as the superintendent of recreation for the Waukegan Park District and worked for the Dundee Park District and for the park district in Clinton, Iowa.

Mogle decided to apply for the position in DeKalb because of its similarity to Kankakee.

“Both cities have aspects of a rural environment and a city environment, and they both are college towns,” he said. “I thought it would be a good move professionally.”