By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The longtime assistant director of the St. Joseph Parks and Recreation Department is becoming the director following the retirement of Chuck Kempf.
Jeff Atkins has worked around the St. Joseph parks since 1986. He became the assistant director in 2016.
Atkins says he's excited for the opportunity to serve as the Parks Director.
"I've worked here now for 39 years, I still enjoy coming to work every day," Atkins tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "I enjoy what we do, I enjoy getting to go out in the evenings and see the fruits of our labor, you know go by one of our parks and just see it full of people that are enjoying things that I've had a hand in getting done."
Atkins says his biggest goals in the new role are going to be keeping existing programs going
"And we're continually monitoring the, oh gosh the airwaves if you want to call it, looking for new and upcoming activities that people are getting involved in, like pickleball," Atkins explains. "Pickleball now, it's been around for a handful of years, but it was kind of a new and upcoming activity, and we got on board with that, and it's become very popular now."
Atkins says some of the biggest projects he's excited to continue working on in his new role are the upgrades at Krug Park, which start later this year, and the new aquatics park coming to the city.
Atkins is ready for the opportunity to serve as director, especially in light of the opportunities made possible by the voter approved park sales tax.
Atkins says currently there are 40 active projects going, thanks to the park tax, and says one of his primary goals will be to keep the sales tax moving forward
"And to make sure that we keep the promises that we made, and we get these projects done in a timely manner," Atkins says. "And thankfully the monies are actually collecting faster than they were anticipated, so we've been able to move a couple projects forward and are getting them done much sooner than we had hoped."
Atkins says he hopes to keep things moving forward and do a good enough job, that when the tax goes back to the citizens, they will vote to renew it.
Atkins will officially take over the role on April 5th. His starting salary will be $109,694.
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