After more than five months of searching, the North Whidbey Park and Recreation District seems to finally have a new executive director.

The board of commissioners is scheduled tonight to hire Bill Walker as executive director. The meeting takes place May 24 at 7 p.m. at the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool, 85 SE Jerome St in Oak Harbor.

Walker will take over for Craig Carlson, who resigned in December.

Tonight’s scheduled hiring of Walker will conclude a bumpy hiring process that took place over the months. After approximately 20 candidates applied for the job, six candidates were interviewed in April. The hiring process was halted after process questions arose and the commissioners met with a lawyer.

During a lengthy meeting last week the commissioners cut the candidate pool down to six finalists, ranked them and settled on Walker as their preferred.

If hired, Walker will earn between $50,000 and $59,000 as director of the district that oversees the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.