Award $40,000 Contract for Interim Parks & Rec Director - YES

On October 15th, Corte Madera's long-serving Director of Leisure Services (more commonly known as Parks and Recreation) left the Town. Seeing an opportunity to overhaul one of the departments with the most immediate impact on residents' daily lives, we elected to award a $40,000 contract to David Wilkinson to serve as interim director, while beginning the process of recruiting a top-tier professional to lead the next chapter of our Parks and Recreation Department.

David Wilkinson is considered an expert, with deep knowledge of and experience in the Parks and Recreation Departments of both Corte Madera and Larkspur. He is a Marin native who previously worked for the Town of Corte Madera from 1981 to 1997, reaching the rank of Recreation Supervisor. From 1997-2010, he served as Larkspur's Director of Parks and Recreation.

David's mission as interim leader will include a top-to-bottom evaluation of the department, assessing personnel and organizational efficiency and suggesting changes as appropriate; making improvements to the capital improvement process; elevating the quality of the programs and services we provide to residents; enhance communication between the Department and residents; and capitalize on opportunities to provide even better service to residents (and save money) by collaborating with Larkspur when possible.

The $40,000 contract covers approximately 400 hours of work, coming out to about $100/hour. A review of similar positions throughout the Bay Area showed an average hourly pay of $90-150.

I am thrilled to have a seasoned expert like David guiding the Parks and Recreation department through this exciting period of renewal.