by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
When Kelley Boree began working for the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation, Entertainment and Conservation in 2003, Boree knew she had found her niche.
After working her way up from a recreation planner to most recently the chief of the Preservation Project, she has been appointed deputy director for the Department of Parks, Recreation, Entertainment and Conservation. Boree was named interim deputy director on July 11 and her appointment must still be confirmed by City Council. Until then she will be both deputy director and chief of the Preservation Project.
“I am very excited to be working here,” she said. “The administration and communities are great to work with and we have great people in this department.”
Boree said she has always been very athletic and an outdoors type, so when she was hired in 2003 Boree felt working for the parks department was the right fit for her.
“I was always into athletics and I am very competitive,” she said. “I am an athletic, outdoor person so I feel that I have an idea about what we need to offer in our parks.”
Boree said parks need to have what the community wants and it is essential to have their input, too.
“It is not all about us, but about them,” she said.
As the deputy director she will report to John Culbreth, director of the parks department. Boree said she will support Mayor John Peyton’s goal of making Jacksonville’s park system not only the largest, but the best in the country.
“I support the director and the mayor and their missions,” she said. “I want to make sure we accomplish the mayor’s goal and get the community into our parks.”
Boree has been a big part of the Preservation Project — an initiative to manage growth and protect land as well as improve water quality and provide public access to Jacksonville’s parks. The project began in 1999 under former Mayor John Delaney and Peyton adopted the plan as well. Boree said Peyton saw the benefits of the Preservation Project.
“The Preservation Project came in at an ideal time, before too many developments started being built,” she said. “We were able to acquire large tracts of land. We wanted certain areas to be protected.”
Boree added that right now it is very difficult to acquire green space, especially in the Southside area, because the area is experiencing tremendous and rapid growth.
“Developers do work with us,” she said. “They carve out areas for parks in developments for basketball courts, fields, playgrounds. That’s business.”
Boree said more trails and access to waterways will soon be open to the public. She added that more trails and trail heads (parking, kiosks, restrooms) will be opening in the Timuquan Preserve in northeast Jacksonville.
As deputy director, Boree will be focusing more on the operations of the parks department. She will also be working with park maintenance and handling the needs of the parks, with a priority of making sure the recreation programs provide activities that children and families can enjoy.
Before Boree worked for the City she was the director of development for Interstate Dairy Queen Corporation where she did everything from selling the franchise to opening its doors. She attended William Woods College in Fulton, Mo. where she received a degree in business and played volleyball.
“I have been able to transfer my skills and my interests into this job,” said Boree. “You always want to be out in the parks and when there is a bad day at the desk, I can go out into the parks and see something that I had a hand in doing.”