DeSoto Parks and Leisure Services to name new director

by Daphne Brown of DeSoto TODAY

The city of DeSoto’s Parks and Leisure Services department has been without a director since January, when Mel Rapp retired after nine years.

DeSoto City Manager Jim Baugh and Assistant City Manager Lynda Humble plan to name his replacement this week, after having to narrow the field from between 65-70 initial candidates.

“We weren’t surprised with the number of applicants,” Baugh said. “This is a good city, with a good parks system.

“This position would represent a nice step up for anyone,” he said.

Baugh said a decision was made not to name an interim, instead managers Ricky Brown and Chris Glover, over the parks division and recreation fields, respectively, oversaw the departments. He said it had not been a hardship being without a director.

“Of course everybody has had to work a little harder,” Baugh said. “ l think everybody will be glad to get a director, but we’ve got some awfully good people in place who do their jobs very well.”

There are about 30 employees in the city’s Parks and Leisure Services department, Baugh said. The director is responsible for maintenance of all of the city’s fields and oversees the continuity of all programs conducted on those fields from softball and baseball to soccer, basketball and football, Baugh said.

“It’s a very visible position because you’re not only getting and maintaining the fields, but you’re coordinating all of the different kinds of programs the community wants.

“That’s the one thing we haven’t been able to focus on since Mel left,” Baugh said.

Waters Consulting Group assisted Baugh’s office in conducting the search. The group, which has worked with the city to fill other posts, did reference checks, enabling he and Humble to interview between 15-20. Baugh said the consultant group reached far more applicants through its advertising efforts and conducted a more thorough screening. Waters Consulting Group “added a wonderful dimension to the process,” he said.

“We got the list down to four or five candidates, which enabled us to name two candidates as our finalists,” Baugh said. “That’s where we are now.”

Glover is one of the two final candidates. Renee Johnson, a district manager in the city of Dallas’ Park and Recreation Department, is the other candidate. A candidate reception with parks department and Keep DeSoto Beautiful members was held recently.

“We took each of them around the park facilities and let them meet the employees,” Baugh said. “We’re in the last part of our selection process. It’s been a pretty open process, now we’re circling back and talking with those folks about what they thought of each person.”

Baugh said Johnson is looking for a step up and Glover has been involved in DeSoto’s parks department for seven or eight years and boasts of an athletic background.

“We did not lack for good quality,” he said. “It’s a real honor when folks think enough to put their names in the pile.”

Glover’s resume indicates that he has been with DeSoto for seven years and oversees a budget of more than $3 million, which includes budgeting, maintaining, planning, supervising and administering the quality of all park and leisure time activities for the Recreation Center, Civic Center, Senior Center, aquatics, The Corner Theater, seven youth sports associations, four adult sports leagues that play year round, as well as managing the city/school district facilities through the two group’s interlocal agreement and numerous other special events and tournaments.

In addition to having overseen the construction of more than $20 million in parks development, Glover, serving as the city’s recreation manager, said he has generated almost $300,000 in annual revenue to subsidize the parks and leisure services general fund through special events, classes, tournaments and general membership to the recreation, fitness center and theater. Glover has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of North Texas and he resides in DeSoto.

Johnson’s resume includes that in her current post she oversees eight recreation centers, four aquatic facilities and 65 parks. Her administrative duties include budgeting all of the expenditures and revenues of a $4 million budget, managing 70 full-time employees and 25 part-time employees. Previous position with Dallas have included about a year as manager of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and park maintenance district supervisor.

Prior to Dallas, Johnson worked as a park and forestry superintendent and park and recreation director in the Flint, Mich., park and recreation department. Johnson has a bachelor of science in agriculture of home economics from the University of Arkansas with credits toward of master’s of arts in recreation administration and she lives in Dallas.