Town continues search for new Parks & Recr director
By Mike Berger
Management of the newly refurbished Metropolis Skating Rink is among the many responsibilities of the town’s Parks & Recreation director. (Mike Tureski photo)
A screening committee consisting of Playground & Recreation Commission Chair JR McCourt, Human Resources Director Jody Middleton, Town Administrator Charlie Aspinwall, and now Select Board member and former Rec. Commission Chair Tom Theodore will soon begin scheduling interviews for the pool of 11 applicants who have applied for the position of Canton Parks & Recreation director.
The leadership post has been vacant since early November following the resignation of Liz Francis, who took another job elsewhere.
Both McCourt and Select Board Chair Mike Loughran agreed that the ideal candidate should have experience managing a variety of recreational facilities, as Canton not only boasts a newly renovated town pool and ice rink, but also several athletic fields and playgrounds as well as the public park at the Paul Revere Heritage Site.
Loughran added, “The person should be up to the challenge, committed to the job, and be able to communicate well with all of the youth sports groups there are in town.”
According to the publicly advertised job posting, responsibilities of the Parks & Recreation director include the “planning, promotion, implementation, supervision, scheduling and evaluation of Parks & Recreation and community events,” as well as the “scheduling, management and maintenance of all town-owned recreational facilities.”
Qualified candidates should have a bachelor’s degree with at least five to seven years of experience as a director or administrator of a recreation department, and they must have the ability to work flexible hours to meet night, weekend and seasonal demands. McCourt said they are also seeking a candidate who is proficient in field operations and programming.
McCourt said the town has been fortunate to have some very capable people filling in on a temporary basis to help keep the department up and running, including maintenance supervisor Dennis Aldrich, who has been running the facilities, as well as assistant director Andrea Berardi and principal clerk Audrey Cohen, who have provided programming and operations support.
McCourt said the newly reopened Metropolis Skating Rink, which hosts hockey games and public skating, has been running smoothly with the only unfinished work centered on the concession stand, which is waiting on some plumbing work and the scheduling of state inspections. With a recent appropriation by voters at the December Special Town Meeting, McCourt said bids are out now out for a backup Zamboni and it should be ready for next season.
McCourt said he hopes the new recreation director will be chosen by mid-February. Once the director is place, plans are in the works to hire a new pool supervisor and if there is sufficient staff, expand the summer evening pool hours to 7:30 or 8 p.m.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=79418
Posted by Mike Berger
on Dec 31 2021. Filed under News, Town Government.
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