The Penn Township commissioners will vote next week on hiring a recreation director to replace its former volunteer recreation board.
The commissioners voted in December to advertise the recreation director position with a salary between $45,000 and $65,000 depending on qualifications, said township Secretary/Manager Mary Perez.
She said four people applied for the position. The commissioners will vote April 16 on filling the post and setting the salary.
Commissioners also will vote on five-year wages for the police department.
The recreation board was dissolved last summer due to difficulty recruiting members, Perez said. A 2020 change in the state’s First Class Township code eliminated the requirement for municipalities to maintain a recreation board.
“It’s been increasingly difficult to get volunteers to do those kinds of things, and our township is of a significant size,” she said.
“We have a lot of residents who value recreation and want those kinds of amenities, so we felt it would be more advantageous to have a salaried employee here who could handle those items.”
The director will coordinate with the local youth sports associations and nonprofit Penn-Trafford Area Recreation Commission to manage recreation facility usage.
This includes Municipal Park, which offers a dog park, playground, fishing pond, dek hockey rink, sand volleyball court, basketball courts, baseball fields and pavilions. The township finalized a 12-year renovation of the 63-acre park in 2023 that cost nearly $1.5 million.
The director also will support the planning committee behind the Penn Township Fall Festival, held annually since 2017. The weekendlong event, typically held in September, features food and craft vendors, a parade, a fireworks display, a car cruise, cooking contests and carnival rides.
Previously, recreation tasks were often handled by Perez, her administrative assistant, the township finance director and the public works department.
“(The director) will kind of pull all of that under one umbrella and be able to handle that more efficiently,” Perez said.
The commissioners’ voting meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16 in the Penn Township Municipal Building, 2001 Municipal Court.