Quincy plans to hire recreation director

QUINCY - A proposal to advertise for a new Quincy recreation director passed, after drawing criticism from two city councilmembers.

A committee has been working since August to redesign Quincy's recreation program after Recreation Director Chris Koeppel was terminated without cause.

The council discussed advertising for a replacement and adjusting the job description during a recent meeting.

"One of the tasks (the committee) was given was to determine how we wanted to run the (recreation) program moving forward," Mayor Jim Hemberry said. "Did we want a recreation director again? Did we want to look at doing it by committee? Was there any other alternatives out there?"

The committee recommended filling the recreation director position, Hemberry said, adding he changed the job description so the education requirements were listed as desirable rather than required.

"We're looking for somebody who is very passionate about the youth in our community. (Someone) who is very organized and who speaks very well and is comfortable in front of crowds," he said. "We need somebody who is a salesperson for this program."

Hemberry said the city needed to include a salary range in the advertisement and suggested $50,000 to $60,000.

"The way we've converted our salaries, where we give the employees the money they would pay for insurance, so you're really looking at $39,000 to $49,000 is their salary if you were paying benefits," he said.

Councilmember Travis Wittman said the salary should be lower, and include a larger increase once the program starts.

"I know we did this once before and it didn't work out so well. I'd rather not pay somebody," he said. "It still seems really high to me."

Councilmember Scott Lybbert said if the salary was lower, the city might not get a person with enough experience.

"I try to set up our salary structure in a certain hierarchy," Hemberry said. "Usually, I try to get it to the point where the department heads are making more than the excluded employees and, actually right now, if you start him at $50,000, they're going to be making less than all of the exempt employees and all of the excluded employees."

Councilmember Jose Saldana questioned the proposal for hiring another recreation director, saying he wanted more time to discuss it.

"Last time, the recreation director failed," he said. "I think that part of it was we didn't know what we wanted. We need more time to see what we want and to advertise."

Lybbert said he trusted the committee, since the members worked a lot to decide what to do with the program.

"So I think there's a lot going on that we're not seeing," he said. "They are addressing more than we did last time, and, like any of our committees, hopefully we trust them to bring some good information to us ... I think we have a better vision now, than we did."

Wittman agreed with Saldana, saying he wanted to see more.

"I know the (recreation) committee has been doing stuff, but I want to see some sort of product," he said. "I commend them for doing the hard work, but I want to see what the goals (are), what the plan is."

Hemberry said if they delay, they might be hiring the new person during the summer. He also mentioned the school is starting its physical education program following spring break.

"The training is right at the beginning of April. I'd like to be able to have our person go to that training, so they know what's going on because we're providing the support people for that."

Committee member Rebecca Young said the committee was more thorough in its process compared to the previous time.

"We started to compile - what we talked about before - a recreation guide. (Will it include) what's happening in Quincy? Who is in charge of what program?" she said. "So we have some of that stuff in place, so when the (recreation) director comes on board, they're able to just have that already."

She said the recreation director will have an easier time compared to Koeppel, and the salary was comparable to other communities.

"I agree if we lower the salary scale any more what we're going to be getting is more entry-level people, who are more fresh out of college, looking for that first job that can get them a little bit of experience," she said. 

Wittman and Saldana voted against advertising for the new director. Councilmembers Paul Worley, Manuel Guerrero, Jeremy McCreary and Lybbert voted for it. Councilmember Tony Gonzalez was not at the meeting.