The county will soon begin taking applications to fill the position of a full time director at the county complex (Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center).
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission voted 12-1 to create the position. Two part time workers will remain.
Applications and resumes may be submitted to the county mayor’s office through noon December 27th. The county’s parks and recreation committee will review the applications and set up interviews in January. The committee will then make a recommendation to the county commission on whom to hire possibly by the January 22 monthly meeting. The position is expected to be filled by February 1.
Job responsibilities of the director are as follows:
*Overseeing all daily activities, finance and scheduling
*Preparing yearly budget
*Making daily deposits
*Coordinating activities for the county complex
*Booking & renting rooms
*Planning activities for all ages
*Keeping records for complex (attendance, finance)
*Supervising games, events, activities, etc.
*Being responsible for inventory of property
*Working irregular hours, including nights and weekends
*Being responsible for booking classes and getting volunteers to assist with programs
*Scheduling and overseeing employees and volunteers to assist with programs
*Applicants must possess solid computer and people skills
*Be willing to attend training for First Aid, CPR, and perhaps First Responder Classes.
Although the complex is currrently staffed by three part time county employees, it has no one to manage it full time.
“We need a director in place there and we want to put some controls in place to provide a better service for all the citizens of the county. It will also be better for the county. It will really make it a better atmosphere and encourage more people to come out there and take advantage of the facility the county has built,” said Jonathan Norris, fourth district county commissioner and member of the county parks and recreation committee.
Last week the county budget committee accepted a recommendation from the parks and recreation committee to hire a director and to forward the proposal to the entire county commission for its blessing.
Sixth district commissioner Betty Atnip, who cast the only no vote for hiring a director Monday night, asked why the urgency to create the position now since the complex has operated six years without one.
“Because there is a potential for the complex to do better,” answered fifth district commissioner Anita Puckett, who is also a member of the parks and recreation committee.
“I thought it (complex) was doing okay until we had a group who came and wanted to utilize the facility and not pay anything. That’s when it was brought to our attention how neglected the complex truly was. We were able to see that there is no true leadership in overseeing the day to day activities. The neglect is there but we see the potential for more revenue to come in there. We asked (County Mayor) Tim (Stribling) can you show us what was established when it was first developed? There wasn’t anything. It was literally that somebody had hand written guidelines but there hadn’t been anything established like we have developed here. Now there is going to be a direction. There is going to be a director who will be on site day to day and oversee the activities that are being held. They (director) will have specific things we will require of them (him or her) on a daily basis and we want them looking for venues to come in that will generate new revenues from our complex,” said Puckett.
“As for bringing in new venues, events, and encouraging people to come to our complex, in my opinion that falls in with the Chamber of Commerce recommending people to come in and the county mayor’s office. That is part of his job to bring in new people to our county,” said Atnip.
The pay for the director is expected be on the same scale as clerks in other county offices, starting at $25,436 per year at step one or $12,718 for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
Norris said the position could be funded without adding new monies to the county budget.
“Looking at the budget and what is already allocated versus what was actually spent in 2016, we think we can do this without any new monies, but obviously that is not a guarantee. We have salaries there now (budgeted) at $54,000. The way we did the math if you added in insurance, retirement and things like that, I think we’re still going to be within that $54,000. We may need to restructure some (county complex) budget line items but I don’t think its going to be any new money,” he said.
Norris agreed with Puckett that a director could help bring more activities and generate additional revenues at the complex.
“Last year the county complex brought in $44,000 against $88,000 in expenses. I don’t think anyone here thinks it (county complex) is going to be a cash cow. That is not its purpose. But it does need to be closer in terms of balancing. I believe that a director, somebody who is there, handling , promoting, and pushing that, is going to be able to increase those memberships and revenues so we have a little bit of an offset of the liability,” said Norris.
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