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New pool demands rec director position
BY M.K. LUTHER • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - The Highland County Recreation Commission is serious about getting a full-time director to run its programs this year, especially since the new swimming pool will require management.
Tuesday, supervisors agreed to allocate $20,000 for a director, as they have the previous three years.
The previous combination of athletic director and recreation director held by Brian Parker last year did not pan out when the school board decided it could no longer pay for its share of the job.
The 10-month position for this fiscal year for a full-time recreation director will include a benefit package of $8,500 paid by the county.
The recreation commission explained the operation of the Highland pool will increase the commission's administrative duties. The already over-worked commission members are stretched thin and need a director now that the pool is nearing construction, members said.
"You can see, we are a group of individuals and every single one of us sitting here, I don't think anybody is retired, everybody sitting here has a home, a family and a job and children and we are working ourselves to death, in a sense," said commission chair Sherry Sullenberger.
The recreation commission will be responsible for operating the pool from the time it's filled with water, regardless of whether the pool is open to swimmers. The pool and water must be cleaned and filtered until October, when the water temperature will drop below 55 degrees and bacteria growth is no longer a maintenance issue.
The commission must also hire and train lifeguard and concession staff. Once open, the commission hopes to offer the pool for private parties for a fee.
A recreation director could assume day-to-day administrative duties and be available to communicate with the government, the school board and citizens. A director could also take over tasks such as buying equipment and inventory, and field maintenance, Sullenberger said.
Sullenberger said the commission already provides numerous activities for the county, including the Franklin, W.Va., pool trips, the Mountain Mama Bike Challenge and the county fair, that are time-consuming for commission members.
Mountain Mama now has more than 200 preregistrations, with registration expected to go as high as 400, Sullenberger said. Coordinating the event requires a Web site, finding sponsors and rest-stop donors. The commission also hosts a May golf tournament at the Lower Cascades and has plans to add a concert to yearly events, and participate in the fair each year.
Commission member Maggie Cavell said the need for a full-time director is has reached a critical point.
"I can no longer continue to do this - we have got to have a fulltime person - one of these days somebody is going to get hurt in this weight room out here because they are unsupervised and then they are going to sue the county, even though they weren't legally supposed to be there in the first place," Cavell said.
The recreation commission needs a director to ensure activity programs can develop and grow, even after the pool opens.
"I don't feel that we can continue; we have taken on a huge commitment to pay for this pool without using taxpayers dollars and we are committed to that - we were asked to do that and we are certainly the arm of the county government that would handle such a venture, and would staff it and operate it," Sullenberger said.
Supervisors agreed the request for a full-time director is reasonable considering the commission's workload. Supervisor Robin Sullenberger, Sherry Sullenberger's husband, expressed concern the county does not fully realize all the activities the commission is responsible for.
Recreation activities are essential to a community's economic development and expansion, he said.
"And as I have said many times, we need more people in this community and to make it attractive to younger people we have got to build a community with more assets than what we currently have," Robin Sullenberger said.
Current recreation commission activities include:
• T-ball program from late April-June
• Youth soccer program from September-November
• Summer pool trips to Franklin from June-August one day a week
• Youth and junior varsity basketball twice a week from June- August
• Pee-Wee basketball and cheerleading from January-early April; started a summer program
• Weight training and fitness area at HHS
• Weight training in the Modular center, with staffing on Monday and Thursday
• Golf lessons and workshop in June
• Mountain Mama Bike Challenge
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