Board of Directors Special Meeting: Work Session

CPRD Board of Directors Special Meeting set for Sept. 19 to discuss superintendent hiring search

• Attend in person at CPRD Administration Office, 125 S. Elliott Road in Newberg.
• Watch livestream on the CPRD YouTube page. 
• Attend the Zoom webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82885766047; Zoom meeting ID: 828 8576 6047

CPRD taps SDAO to conduct search for first parks superintendent in 40 years

The Board of Directors will hold a Special Meeting (Work Session) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19th at the CPRD Administration Office, in order to discuss the hiring search for a new Superintendent. The meeting will take place together with representative Mark Knudson, Senior Consultant from Special Districts Association of Oregon (SDAO). At its August 22nd meeting, the board approved the selection of SDAO as the entity to conduct what is expected to be a nationwide search (Until the meeting on Sept. 19th, this is pending contract signing.).

The need to hire a new superintendent comes as longtime Superintendent Don Clements prepares to step down with a retirement date set for June 30, 2025. Clements was hired as superintendent in 1984. The park district has exponentially grown its parks and facilities in 40 years.

This Special Meeting is a work session, and as all public meetings of the Board of Directors, it is open to the public. The meeting will be streamed on YouTube and may be attended either on site or remotely.

At the August meeting, board President Matt Smith commended Clements for leaving the park district on good financial standing and with many projects, which, he said, should make it attractive to applicants.

Clements, a Georgian native, said that he had settled in Newberg because this was where his family wanted to be, and he said that the expansion has been done reasonably with taxpayers in mind. I have been accused of building an empire, he said, and he concurred that it was true.

"We are way in front of park and rec agencies in Oregon and the nation," he said.

The vote in support of using SDAO was unanimous. Other board member comments included as follows: Lisa Rogers thanked Clements for his contributions. Jason Fields urged haste in launching the search, so that Clements could be part of it, and added that he would like to see someone local, who is familiar with the community. Jim McMaster said he would like to hire someone who has degrees in parks and recreation or public administration, no matter where they come from. Gayle Bizeau said she would like to cast the net for a new superintendent as widely as possible.

Once a timeline for the search has been determined, CPRD will post details.