June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 27

Member to Member
Reflections on Working in
Different Park Systems
By Judy Weiss, CPRE

f retirement is the light at the end of the tunnel, I can see a dust-sized particle. In other words, I have been in the profession for a while (more than
three decades). But, I still look forward to going to work each day. Why? It's
because of the people I work with, the organization I work for and the community I serve. I landed in a great place.
I worked for 28 years in one place - a city in metro Phoenix. When I started,
it had a population of 80,000 and was about 62 square miles. When I departed,
it had a population of 235,000 and 186 square miles. That time was a period of
growth and innovation combined with unparalleled leadership that shaped my
professional future. I was given the freedom to take risks and try new things,
and I took advantage of every opportunity. I became the park and recreation
director and earned my management chops through the experience of working
there. I got lucky with my first real job.
With my next adventure, it was important
to me to look to a place
that would add to my
professional acumen. I
chose what I eventually
termed " oppositeland: "
a large urban border
city in Texas - a city
with one of the lowest
socioeconomic demographics in the country.
I was immersed in a different environment and a transitioning organizational culture. A switch four years earlier
from a strong mayor to council-manager reflected why there had been 20
different park and recreation directors
in the last 35 years. While the staff
was professional, they were dazed and
confused and suffered from too much
change, a lack of direction and little attention. I hope that in my short time
there, I was able to mentor them, institute some values, and show them that
having a vision for the community and

a love of their chosen
profession can make all
of the difference in serving the community.
Now, I am back in
Arizona - it's home.
But it's yet another place that adds to
my experience. It is
a vast, rural county
Judy Weiss
rather than an urban
city. And, unbelievably in Arizona, it snows here - a
lot. It makes park and recreation operations very different for someone
who has spent her entire career in the
desert. Best of all, the organization is
smaller, more nimble and interested
in new ways to achieve important
and well-defined goals. Leadership
will consider anything. To me, this is
the most important attribute that an
organization can have, and having
experienced it early in my career, I
know this single value allows amazing things to happen.

No matter where I have landed, I
have worked with the best people on
Earth. It is a common theme that park
and recreation professionals, at whatever level, are passionate, fun, creative
and dedicated to serving their community. We are willing to share information and are proud of what we do.
At this point, I struggle with being
" old school. " I would submit that there
are good things about that - a sense
of what's right, a depth of experience,
and the use of history and well-developed intuition that helps navigate
today's political environment. I also
don't have the trait of resting on laurels
or coasting into retirement - which is
good when you are trying to avoid the
bad parts of the " old school. "
My challenge now is patience. Glaciers sometimes melt faster than government moves. So, when something
happens relatively expeditiously, we
celebrate! It's so sweet - and so rare.
I counsel younger staff on this issue
in terms of career mobility as well. Be
patient, work hard and think twice before you say no to an opportunity to
gain a new experience.
And, if you find a good organization,
a good place to be, and you are successful, muster all of your patience and position yourself to be the one chosen for
the next opportunity. It will happen. It
has for me, and I am so honored to be a
part of this very special profession.
Judy Weiss, CPRE, is the Director of
Coconino County Parks and Recreation in
Arizona (jweiss@coconino.az.gov).

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