Friday, March 21, 2008

Irving Parks and Recreation Director Chris Michalski stresses good service to Irving residents

By Minnie Payne

Irving Parks and Recreation Director Chris Michalski

IRVING — Chris Michalski, City of Irving Parks and Recreation Department Director, was born 50 years ago in Albuquerque, N. M. to an Air Force dad. He moved five times during his childhood, until his father retired from the Air Force and the family settled just outside of Austin.

“Although at the time I adjusted to moving, based on my background, I don’t want to move my children,” he said. “It’s important to me that my sons have a sense of roots.”

Michalski joined the City of Irving in 1985 as a parks superintendent, recently being promoted to director in January. He has extensive background in athletic programming, park maintenance and aquatic facility operations.

Michalski was an average student at Del Valle High School in Austin, graduating in 1976. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Park and Recreation Administration from Texas A&M University in 1981, where he worked his way through school.

“I was fortunate enough to spend from ninth grade through twelfth grade at Del Valle High School, long enough to letter in both baseball and football,” he said.

According to Michalski, he chose the field of Parks and Recreation because he felt he would enjoy it for an extended period of time.

“Also, one of the nice things about Parks and Recreation at A&M University is that you can take a lot of elective classes,” he said. “I took a lot of finance and economics, as well as agriculture law and business law which I found to be very interesting.”

He said that his staff not only takes care of 72 official developed parks, but also takes care of property around city buildings, making a total of 102 maintained parks and grounds areas.

“There are a total of eight full-time recreation centers, three part-time recreation centers and a teen recreation center,” he said.

The City of Irving has enjoyed a senior center since 1981, he said, and has moved twice to accommodate the growing number of seniors.

“We have an advisory council that’s made up of seniors,” he said.

There are about 133 full-time employees, he said, and when seasonal employees are working, there are about 300 employees.

He said that his supervisors really care about their job and are much focused.

“My focus with the staff is recognizing the importance of customer service from the top position all the way down the line,” Michalski said. “I tell them [staff] that such disruptions as bad weather or machinery breaking are beyond our control, but we can make a difference in how we treat people by delivering good service to them,” he said.

Paul Gooch is Michalski’s managing director and has known him for a number of years.

“Chris has many years of community experience whereby he fully understands the relationship of our customers and what their needs are,” Gooch said. “He has demonstrated great understanding of customer service and built a work force dedicated to a high level of quality service.”

Michalski has been married to his wife, Robin, 18 years and they have two sons, Matt, 14, and Andrew, 10.

See more stories in:

• Citizen Profiles
• Politics and Government > City Government > Irving
• Pegasus News Exclusive