President’s Message —

Spring is here everyone!

Time to hit the ground running and get the season kicked off to a great start. After a very mild winter, I’m sure there is a lot of ground to make up due to the lack of snow. Hopefully the weather cooperates this season and we can make up some of those losses.

In March, we brought back the Hot Topics Panel. The last time we did this event was about 10 years ago. This was a great and well attended event with a wonderful panel of business owners.

The topics included:

• Customer and client behavior and attitudes

• Labor and labor shortages

• Mergers, acquisitions, and succession planning

• Professional stress and burnout

• Margins and pricing

• The 4th Season - the viability of snow

• Electric equipment, robots, and business management systems, EOS, and technology

These topics are all on the forefront of what we are all dealing with on a day-today basis. A lot of great information was shared with everyone and there was plenty of discussion back and forth with leaders in our industry.

Immediately following this event was the Past Presidents Dinner. We had 21 Past Presidents attend this event — one of the largest turn outs ever. It was great hearing all the stories about how ILCA has evolved over the decades to make it what it is today. The stories were endless, and the event went on to 10pm — what a great time!

I wish you all the best for the new season.

Sincerely,

Jeff Kramer

¡La primavera ha llegado para todos!

Es el momento de arrancar corriendo para comenzar con buen pie la temporada. Después de un invierno muy suave estoy seguro que hay mucho espacio para compensar la falta de nieve. Esperamos que el clima coopere esta temporada y podamos compensar algunas de esas pérdidas.

En marzo volvimos a realizar el Panel de Temas de Actualidad. La última vez que organizamos este evento fue hace unos 10 años. Fue un evento estupendo con mucha asistencia y un panel maravilloso de propietarios de negocios.

Los temas incluyeron—

• Comportamiento y actitudes de clientes y usuarios

• Mano de obra y escasez laboral

• Fusiones, adquisiciones y planificación de sucesiones

• Estrés y agotamiento profesional

• Márgenes y fijación de precios

• La 4.a estación – la viabilidad de la nieve

• Equipos eléctricos, robots y sistemas de administración de negocios, EOS (sistemas operativos empresariales) y tecnología

Estos temas están todos al frente de las cosas con las que lidiamos diariamente. Se compartió con todos mucha valiosa información y hubo gran intercambio de ideas con líderes de nuestra industria.

Inmediatamente después de este evento, se realizó la Cena de Expresidentes. 21 expresidentes asistieron a este evento — una de las mayores concurrencias que hayamos tenido. Fue estupendo escuchar todas las historias sobre cómo ILCA ha evolucionado durante décadas hasta convertirse en lo que es hoy. ¡Las historias parecían no tener fin y el evento continuó hasta las 10 p.m.!

Les deseo a todos lo mejor en esta nueva temporada. Atentamente, Jeff Kramer

Balanced Environments, Inc. • Old Mill Creek, IL

River Point

River Point is an office building in the heart of Chicago, Illinois, overlooking the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Chicago River. The large, multi-level river frontage, boasts mature landscape plantings and large expanses of turf.

River Point boasts the largest expanse of manicured turf on the river within the Chicago loop. The property has installed nonvisually intrusive signage asking the public to keep dogs off this central turf area. Ease of egress and effortless access is a requisite design thought and must be maintained meticulously for all ability levels. We work in conjunction with building maintenance to keep all pavement areas clear and debris free.

The property is a green oasis amidst the Chicago River front and boasts a multitude of color and texture from the shrub and perennial collections. Over 90 trees and 17 different plant species live harmoniously on this site. We hand prune, dead head roses, perform perennial maintenance, hand weed and rake stone by hand to keep noise to a minimum.