North Whidbey Park and Recreation District is searching for a new director — again.
The district board is narrowing in on a replacement and should begin interviewing top candidates this month. About two dozen people applied for the position, most from the Pacific Northwest, but one candidate as far away as Texas.
This will be the district’s third executive director in as many years. The board that oversees the district is hoping this time they’ll find the right person to stick around.
“We wanted to make sure we got the word out to as many interested candidates as possible,” said Sean Merrill, chair of the district’s board.
“We didn’t want to rush the process and make a snap decision.”
It’s been a rough couple of years for the park district. The most recent executive director, Gino Wolfe, resigned from the position Jan. 1 after serving less than a year. He followed Bill Walker, who resigned at the end of 2013 after working the job a year-and-a-half.
The board that oversees the district experienced turnover too. Only Merrill was elected to his position. The other four members were appointed — three in the last year.
North Whidbey Park and Recreation is a special purpose district that stretches outside of city borders, serving the same area as Oak Harbor Public Schools.
The district was originally established in 1977 because more tax dollars were needed to run John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.
Although operating the pool is a substantial part of what the district does, it also does more, including managing two community parks and providing aquatic and fitness programs for people of all ages.
Running a special purpose district is no picnic. The district doesn’t have the administrative support it would if it were part of a larger entity such as the city. The director has to be able to manage a complex budget, handle personnel, understand state law, develop policies and programs, reach out to the community and work under an elected board.
The salary range for the position is $52,000 to $61,000.
Although other factors played into why the last two directors resigned, the lack of administrative support contributed to their departure, Merrill said.
Now the board is ready to get things back on track. Rather than rushing to hire a replacement, they placed the pool’s aquatic director, Erika Miller, in the role of interim director as they spend more time looking for the right person to fill the role of executive director.
“They need to let go of the past and move forward,” she said. “That is the only way the district will move forward.”
The board plans to interview the final candidates in private and make a decision in an open meeting sometime this month.
