Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex. (Photo from The Cortland Voice's Photo Files).
The Cortlandville town board voted unanimously to create a position of parks and recreation maintenance supervisor at Wednesday’s board meeting
John McNerney, the town’s recreation director, said Cortlandville currently relies on the highway department crews to provide maintenance to parks around the town.
“The creation of this position has been discussed with supervisor Tom Williams, as well as the highway superintendent since last year,” McNerney said Wednesday. “As the town’s parks and recreation system services have expanded, we feel it’s a real challenge to rely on the highway department day in and day out.”
The new supervisor position would be tasked with planning and supervising the maintenance of park land and recreation facilities. These include athletic fields, playgrounds, picnic pavilions, trails, and parking lots. The description of the position notes that the prospective supervisor would be “responsible for the safe, efficient, and economical operation of the physical facilities and equipment used for recreation purposes.”
The goal for McNerney is advertise the position and hire someone by this month or next.
“This position lists a degree in recreation management. It is important, but it’s not necessary but we put that into the qualifications,” McNerney said.
McNerney noted the position would pay between $30,000 to $42,000 a year.
“Keep in mind that park and recreation professionals are some of the lowest paid civil service professionals out there,” he said.
McNerney thanked highway department employees for their work in maintaining parks across the town.
“They’ve been there for Testa Park, Blodgett Mills and Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex whenever they were needed,” he said. “It has been a nice partnership.”
