Crookston City Council and Park Board members and other officials this evening will get a look at a Parks & Recreation Department reorganization plan put together by City Administrator Aaron Parrish and Parks & Rec Director Scott Kleven.
At the heart of the proposal is the creation of a Park Superintendent position that would replace the current Assistant Parks & Recreation Director position held by Scott Riopelle. In the memo circulated by Parrish to council members and other officials, Riopelle and Park Foreman Tom Clauson would be encouraged to apply for the new position, but a full recruitment of external candidates would commence as well. If Clauson doesn't want the job or pursues it but doesn't get it, he would be assigned a park maintenance position but would not take a cut in pay. If Riopelle pursues the job and gets it, he'd stay at the same salary. If he doesn’t want the job or seeks it but isn’t hired, his tenure with the city would end.
So, in essence, the reorganization eliminates the Assistant Parks & Recreation Director position.
Parrish indicates in the memo that the new position is similar to the Water Superintendent position created a couple years ago in the Public Works Department.
Much of Riopelle's job involves managing Crookston's arena facilities and coordinating programming in the arena. The Park Superintendent position would maintain the arena management aspect, but programming would be Kleven's responsibility, along with seasonal staff.
The proposed reorganization also includes the creation of a specific Park Maintenance job classification to remove potential conflicts and increase efficiency.
Parrish and Kleven briefed Parks & Rec staff on the proposed reorganization last week. If the council approves the plan, revised job descriptions would be finalized, the recruitment process would be fine-tuned, and potential union-related issues would be addressed.
Sixth Street landscaping
Eric Castle and his landscape design students at UMC have completed their landscape/park development concept for the Sixth Street landslide area, and officials this evening will see drawings that include a fishing pier, gazebo, walking paths and bridges over the rock-lined drainage channels that run to the river, and benches.
If officials like what they see, Parrish indicates in the memo, the next step is to figure out how to make it happen. Anything funded with state grant resources would have to happen this summer. Parrish told the Times today that many of the project components could become reality and could be financed by state bonding dollars previously allocated for landslide recovery. But the components are still be evaluated, he added, as well as the maintenance that would be necessary once they're in place.
Whether or not the major project happens, students in Castle's landscape installation course in the fall will be constructing a flower bed area adjacent to the road.
