This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Interim Takoma Park Recreation Director Picked

Council wants vision for department before hiring new director.

While an interim Takom Park Recreation Department director is set to assume that position, the Recreation Committee has been tasked with producing a mission statement for the recreation services provided by the city as well as goals for those services .

The city council wants those documents by Sept. 12, almost a month after Debra Haiduven leaves her position as recreation director on Aug. 19, said Gregory Clark, the assistant recreation director, who will then assume the role as interim director. In May, Haiduven announced her plans to leave as recreation director, which was originally to occur in July.

Clark told Patch he will pursue the permanent position as recreation director, but as interim director he plans to have the department continue providing as much of the current level of programs that are possible.

Find out what's happening in Takoma Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“My job will be to maintain what’s going on now during the period we’re looking for a director,” Clark said. “Obviously we will be down a person, so there will be some things that we aren’t able to do because we don’t have the bodies to do them.”

Despite being tapped for the role as interim director of the Recreation Department, Clark declined to say if he is the front-runner for the permanent position.

Find out what's happening in Takoma Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“That’s not a question for me. That’s not one I can answer,” he said. “That’s a job for the city manager [Barbara Matthews]. Whomever she chooses will be qualified; but I can say I’m interested in the position, and will do everything necessary to get the position."

The Recreation Committee said much of the information the city council is requesting has already been amassed, and it plans to access that information and re-present it to the council.

“My sense of this is we have a fair amount of information already; we have the recreation budget, what they say are their goals, and we have what we, as a committee, have recommended already, as a vision and direction,” said Cindy Dyballa, vice-chair of the committee.

Dyballa said in a meeting with the city council there did not “seem to be any significant disagreement among the council members about the direction recreation programs ought to take.” 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?