by J .Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City’s initial search for a new parks executive director has ended, yielding no results. The mayor’s office confirmed this week that while a national search to fill the vacant position was eventually narrowed to four applicants, each was rejected.
“We did conduct interviews with each of the candidates, however none of them were the right fit for the position,” said Kristen Key, spokesperson for Mayor John Peyton.
Key said interim director Paul Crawford, who was among those interviewed, will remain at the post until a permanent replacement is found to oversee the 800-employee department.
Crawford previously served as Peyton’s City Council liaison and later as state lobbyist. Key said he will remain with the City in an undetermined capacity.
“He does have other opportunities here,” she said.
Key said the City would likely relaunch a national search to find a director soon.
In 2004 Peyton assembled a task force, hoping it could recommend ways to improve the City’s parks system. Among the litany of those recommendations, the group said Peyton should appoint an executive director who would be a “visionary, dedicated and charismatic leader who is responsive to the citizens, City Council and the mayor.”
Shortly after that recommendation was made public, Peyton fired Bob Baughman, director of the department since August 2003. In May, Dan Kleman, Peyton’s chief administrative officer, said there needed to be stronger leadership from the top of the public parks department.
Baughman, who as director was earning $96,000 annually, eventually took a job as the City’s urban forester, making a little more than half of that. He has been with the City for 19 years.
“Parks has been a very important initiative for this administration,” Key said. “And we will continue in our national search until we find someone to lead the department.”
Key said the City did not employ an outside consulting group to aid in its initial search for a parks director — it recently used Jorgenson Consulting to locate candidates for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission executive director job — but was unsure if one would be used in the upcoming second round in hopes a more qualified crop of candidates could be wooed.
“At this time we can’t speculate on that,” she said.