The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board met Monday evening during a regular session, with Parks and Rec Director Seth Staashelm updating the members on various ongoing projects and Summer programs. Stasshelm said a search for someone to fill the part-time position of Park Foreman has ended, and the quality of the responses was less than he expected.

He said he had “Some poor applications. People weren’t following instructions,” especially with regard to providing a resume’ and cover letter. “Some didn’t have a cover letter. Some had a cover letter addressed to a different employer. Moms applying for their kids.” He said fortunately, long-time City employee, Ron Flory, who has worked as an operator at the Wastewater Treatment Plant for over 35-years, expressed interest in the position.

Stasshelm said with the poor quality of resumes for the position and with Flory willing to step away from his wastewater treatment plant duties, he closed the position to any further applicants and talked with the City Attorney Mark Bosworth, City Administrator John Lund and City Clerk Barb Barrick, all of whom agreed he would be a perfect fit for the job. He said Flory would be taking a big cut in pay to $15 an hour part-time, but he’s okay with that. He said also, that while Flory is “Overqualified” for the position, he’s going to be a fantastic addition to the Department. Staashelm said Flory is highly organized and safety conscious. He’ll start on July 1st and average out to 1500 hours per year.

In other business, Staashelm said work continues on the Schildberg Recreation Area Shelters. One is up, but does not have a roof yet, thanks to the stifling heat and humidity. They hope to install that soon. The other (west) shelter is being constructed, with the concrete pads having been poured, including an ADA accessible pathway. The columns are in-place and within a couple of weeks the roof will be installed and electrical hook-ups ready by no later than July 13th, weather permitting.

Also, work on the east side playground will continue, as weather allows. And, there’s been more participation in Summer children’s programs this year, including tennis and the swim team. There are six softball teams, and the pickle-ball courts at Sunnyside are very active on the weekends, according to Staashelm.

He said also, attendance is up at the Sunnyside Pool, the number of passes sold are up (measured in family and single units), and concessions are up. Revenue since the pool opened are at $15,000, which is remarkable, according to Staashelm, considering the short amount of time it’s been available for use since the season opened a few short weeks ago.