Quincy hires new recreation director

QUINCY — After roughly seven months of searching and one rejected candidate, the Quincy City Council approved the appointment of a recreation director.

Christopher Koeppel will step into the position created in September.

The new director is responsible for handling activities throughout the city, such as the Quincy Aquatic Center and facilitating tour buses.

Koeppel’s appointment comes after the council started searching for someone to fill the position in October and rejected appointing Patty Martin, a controversial former mayor in February, sending the city into a second round of searching.

Koeppel, who graduated from Eastern Washington University in December, said he’s excited to discover how he can serve the community.

“This is a huge opportunity to start up a program and get it running. That’s awesome. That’s exciting. To not take someone else’s work and have to work with it,” he said. “I want to find out what the community wants and try to focus what they want. That’s what I’m here for is to give them recreation they want.”

He plans on asking the community for their ideas on how to improve recreation opportunities in Quincy through focus groups. He said the details haven’t been finalized yet.

“I really have to ask some people who know the community better and find the best way to do that,” he said. “Any ideas they come up with, they can just throw it out there and then we’ll prioritize it and then I’ll try to do the best I can to make it happen.”

Koeppel worked as an intern for Spokane’s parks and recreation department, conducting surveys about the program’s successes. He also worked as the director of the Peaceful Valley Community Center Kids’ Program in Spokane. He said he’s been involved in every form of outside recreation.

“Kayaking, rafting, canoeing, you name it really,” he said.

Koeppel lived in Moses Lake before moving to Spokane, he said.

“Both of our parents live in Moses Lake,” he said.