Denton Parks & Recreation Director Emerson Vorel responds to citizens’ requests

by Minnie Payne

DENTON — When Denton Parks & Recreation Director Emerson Vorel, 53, was attending Berkley High School in Huntington Woods, Mich. in the 1970s, he said that he was an underachiever. One would never believe it to look at his record of achievements today.

When the City of Denton built 60-acre Lake Forest Park in 2006, at many citizens’ requests, a three-acre fenced doggy park was built within that park, so that citizens could allow their dogs to run free and socialize with other dogs.

“In the Parks & Recreation Department, we try to stay in tune with our citizens to make sure that the projects, programs and classes they [citizens] are interested in are carried out,” Vorel said. “Citizens suggested the doggy park to the Rec. Department several years before it came to fruition.”

He said that the department had received capital improvement program funds to construct Lake Forest Park and at the time those funds were made available there was no dog park.

“In response to citizens, when we designed that [Lake Forest] park, we set aside three acres and constructed the dog park,” Vorel said.

When Vorel graduated from high school in 1972, he wanted to get into the work force as quickly as possible, so he jumpstarted his career by literally skipping the freshman and sophomore classes and taking junior and senior classes, receiving a Certificate of Completion from the Institute of Agricultural Technology at Michigan State University in 1974. The course included landscape and nursery management.

“The course prepared me for a career and I immediately went into the landscape business in Detroit,” he said. “In hindsight, everything that I could do wrong, I did wrong. I kept the business until I sold it in 1978.”

Vorel accepted a park supervisor position with the City of Fort Worth Parks and Recreation Department in 1988, staying until 1996.

“I realized that as I got older, I wouldn’t physically be able to handle the rigorous outdoor work that is required in parks and recreation, so I started to Tarrant County Junior College and received an Associate in Applied Science Horticulture in 1991,” he said. “In 1994, I received a Bachelor of Science Horticulture from Tarleton State University, taking advantage of the city’s tuition reimbursement plan in both degrees, and excelling in both degrees.”

Vorel said that his love for horticulture developed when he was a child, spending summers with his grandparents in Wisconsin.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandfather and neighborhood kids hiking and exploring in the woods,” he said. “My father was an engineer and worked all over the country during World War II, finally settling in Detroit.”

Vorel accepted a superintendent of parks position with the City of Denton in 2000 and served in that position until 2006. In December 2006 he accepted the director’s position.

“We now have a vacancy for an assistant director, and I’m excited about getting that position filled,” he said. “We have 87 full-time employees and 63 seasonal full-time employees who serve as a very good team.”

He said that the operating budget is $11.5 million which covers 28 developed park sites and 1,900 maintained acres.

“We have additional park sites where we acquired property that are not yet developed,” he said.

Vorel explained that although he has spent the last 20 years in parks and recreation and has been exposed to the recreation side, it’s far from his specialty.

“We have two superintendents on the leisure services side of our organization who are well trained in all recreational aspects, and I rely very heavily on their expertise,” he said.

Amanda Green is a leisure services superintendent and has known Vorel for about eight years.

“Emerson is a wonderful role model and constantly supports his staff,” she said. “He encourages professional and personal development by setting an example, and I can truthfully say that he is one of the most outstanding human beings I've ever met."

Vorel married his high school sweetheart, Anna, 20 years ago, and they have two daughters, Kathryn, 19, and Rebecca, 15.