South Tahoe hires recreation director from Sparks
By Kathryn Reed
Parks and recreation may be the toy department of any city, but being the leader is more than fun and games. Stan Sherer knows that reality all too well.
Sherer is leaving his job as director of the Sparks Parks and Recreation Department for the same job in South Lake Tahoe. He starts in January.
His 16 years of experience in Sparks and more than 30 years in the industry are reasons City Manager Tony O’Rourke wanted him to take the helm. (Gary Moore retired Oct. 1 after 35 years.)
“He has tremendous energy. He is similar to Gary in that he has charisma and energy,” O’Rourke told Lake Tahoe News. “I see him as an asset for the whole city given his experience and leadership style.”
The new parks and recreation director will need to deal with issues at the ice arena.
Sherer knows what he is walking into – a city with financial troubles, a city manager who has been on the job four months, a City Council majority that will be new this month, facilities that are in need of repair, and residents who are not all thrilled with what has been going on in the department.
The 58-year-old is versed in having to work with less money and knows the pain involved in laying off employees. He also has been involved in creating parks, reducing hours at facilities, establishing partnerships with Reno and Washoe County to save on maintenance expenses and seasonal employees, being part of special events, opening a restaurant at a park, and launching a whitewater park.
Coming to a smaller department with fewer amenities than Sparks, or what he had the previous 14 years in Redding, doesn’t matter to Sherer.
“You look at the potential and successes they have had in South Lake Tahoe and it is really exciting,” Sherer said. “Initially, when you think about it, the area is one of the greatest recreation destinations on the West Coast.”
He wants to build on that. He also recognizes the need to rehabilitate some facilities, which could mean creating partnerships to financially solve those problems.
With ice hockey parents disgruntled and leaving town in swarms because of how they have been treated and policies that point to favoritism, Sherer will need to jump into that fray immediately. (O’Rourke has another meeting with parents today.)
Chris Hawken, No. 2 under Moore and interim parks director, had applied to be director. He was unavailable for comment so it’s not known if he will want to stay on. And it’s too early to know if Sherer will want to make personnel changes.
Sherer and his wife plan to move to South Tahoe – having spoken to a real estate agent Dec. 2. They have two grown sons – one of whom is trying to convince his dad to get into mountain biking. Sherer said the move to Tahoe would likely spur him to do so. For now, road bike riding is what he prefers.
Sherer told Lake Tahoe News he expects to be an active member of the community. Athletic-wise he is at the gym every day, and he loves to golf and hike. Skiing is out after three knee surgeries – one related to skiing, the others to football.
“With ice hockey parents disgruntled and leaving town in swarms because of how they have been treated and policies that point to favoritism, Sherer will need to jump into that fray immediately. (O’Rourke has another meeting with parents today.)”
Come on Kae – that’s not up to your usual journalistic standards.
If you are going to throw something like this into a story, you should be providing more details and some attempt at covering this issue from different points of view. Is the community – as the ones who pay for the ice rink – happy with the amount of ice time they get for free skating? Are the figure skaters happy with the amount of ice time they are getting? Are the curlers being squeezed out? Are the people who thought they were voting for more play fields and bike paths happy with having “their” Measure S funds go to the ice rink?
If you are going to stir things up, then please do your usual comprehensive job rather then just lobbing something into an article.
The City of South Lake Tahoe’s Parks and Rec. Dept. has always been the ugly step child of this city’s departments. Police and Fire will always out rank Park and Rec, just as they should, as governments’ first priority is to protect.
If any part of the future of the South Shore is Parks and Recreation, a new funding apparatus is needed.
Fold the Rec. Dept. and create a new Recreation District independent of the City. From Christmas Valley to Emerald Bay to The Craterline and tax each parcel a fraction of a cent for every dollar in assessed value. See how well Truckee’s done with this format through the Truckee-Donner Recreation & Park District.
Perhaps with the entire South Shore community supporting it, the Ice Rink may operate in the black instead of costing the City of South Lake Tahoe $50K a year, every year to operate. Putting the Ice Rink at odds with Police and Fire budgets, we’ll soon have an extremely expensive indoor wading pool to pay off.
Chuck, we’re already paying for the ice rink. It’s called Measure J.
The co-generation system that is being installed at the Rec Center will provide all the electrical needs of the Ice Arena. It is nice to hear that part of Sherer’s experience is creating new parks. Every neighborhood could use small community parks that families could walk or ride a bike to without crossing a major road. And he is a bike rider, we all know how much paths need to be constructed and maintained. Also, the Parks and Rec Commission, which is made up of members of the general public, meets on the fourth Monday of every other month with the Parks and Rec Director and whoever else that would like to discuss and present ideas, updates, and thoughts on this department. I encourage you to be part of this process.
The Parks and Rec Dept provides locals and visitors alike with cost effective recreation. They do an excellent job with all their facilities.
No need to “fold” Parks and Rec into yet another department. They are not broken and do not need fixing.
Instead of promoting from inside, city manager O’Rourke hires from outside. Like shopping off the hill?
I note the Ice Rink is constantly used by many different groups needing ice time. Looks like good managment there. Please clarify your unbacked comments about dissatisfaction from Ice Rink users.
Chip (Last Name Here):
This is the perfect example: “The co-generation system that is being installed at the Rec Center will provide all the electrical needs of the Ice Arena”. I first heard of this system in 1996, 6 years prior to this Ice Rink’s construction, while working for the Rec. Dept.
Now, 8 years after this Rink’s construction, we’re still being sold on a truly great idea that has been continually shelved due to what I assume are budget constraints.
Why has the ugly step child that is Park & Rec. been left out in the cold, yet again, for 8 years and counting?
Is this due to mismanagement of Measure S funds? Which, as passed, was written to include building and maintenance, but not utility costs. (As far as I can figure – please correct me if I’m wrong). This begs the question: Who covers the cost of utilities? We know its not user fees…
Again, fold the Park and Recreation Dept. and create a new funding source separate from the ever mismanaged and dysfunctional City and give Recreation a fighting chance to bring a better tomorrow to the South Shore.
The ugly alternative is to get caught in that giant sucking sound that the City makes as it continues to swirl the drain.
BTW, Chip (Last Name Here); your use of the present tense, “being installed”, sent me on a comprehensive, 4.5 second search of all the South Shore’s media outlets. Namely LTN and that Nickel Ad/Prep Sports Reporter/AP outlet we call the Tribune. I came up with nothing current on the co-generation system “being installed” at the Ice Rink.
Please clarify your statement, and know that it wouldn’t be the first time today that I’ve missed something relevant.
Did I miss something here, too: Where is the budget for all these neighborhood community parks you mention? This sounds like Vail Corp blowing hot air. Like City taxes, does Vail get away without paying bond fees assessed to their property, too?
Perhaps these questions are better directed at the Commission rather than the anonymous individual, “Chip” – sans a last name:
Can someone please summarize what has become of Measure S and post it? How did it fall into such complete and total mismanagement? How do we keep this from happening again?
Additionally, why can’t the Recreation Dept hire from within? Doing so would negate the need of a newbie to get up to speed with the varied and complex local issues and possibly create entry level jobs that locals might fill.
And finally, congratulations Stan Sherer on your successful appointment. I was on road bike when I first moved here, too. However, I switched to a mountain bike after being run off the narrow “bike lanes” along Hwy 50, too many times.
If this helps at all, the budget for pocket parks does not exist. Perhaps it could, if enough support from all of us, through collective, overwhelming expressed interest to the city council and volunteering time and monetary or property donations. Not easy with so much uncertainy with the economy. An idea was reported on this website back in the spring about establishing a land trust purely for purchasing land for these mini parks. This website also reported on the co-generation system twice in the past ten months. I’m sorry, I don’t have the exact dates. A visit to the Rec Center would confirm it’s existence. Measure S funds is managed by it’s bylaws and the Joint Power Authority. Measure B, which failed, was an attempt to amend how those funds could be spent. There is talk of another attempt to be put to the voters, I have no info on who, what, or where. Vail Corp., to my knowledge, is not involved with Parks, though I would welcome a constructive contribution from them. Chuck, my last name is Morrill, thank-you for asking. I sit on the Parks and Rec Commission. I am in agreement and I am open to new ideas on what this city needs to become a better community. I don’t have all the answers, I wish someone did.
Here are the stories Chip mentioned.
About the land trust: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2010/07/wright-land-trust-would-bring-south-lake-more-recreation/
The second rec center story: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2010/08/overhaul-at-south-tahoe-rec-center-will-save-city-millions/
Initial story on the retrofit: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2010/01/slt-pool-retrofit-to-provide-ice-rink-electricity/
More stories on this department are in the works.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Thank you for your responses Chip Morrill and Kathryn Reed.
I stand corrected on the already installed “micro-turbine” that powers the Ice Rink and Pool. Thank you again for your honest and sincere replies. Please excuse my poorly researched remarks.
Now then, is the Ice Rink’s $50K annual loss directly related to utility costs? Will user fees now bring the Ice Rink’s annual deficit into the black now that the utility fees have been addressed?
And, if so, why didn’t the City do this at the Ice Rinks’ inception and save us $100,000’s in needless utility costs in the first place?
If this isn’t broken management, may I ask what is?
A Recreation District would keep these kinds of priorities straight. The City just looses Park and Rec. in their myriad
responsibilities to every other city department. Recreation becomes just another budgeting number, awaiting their turn for a hand out. In this case, the ugly step kid stood waiting with a hand out for eight years before being acknowledged.
Chip, I really like the idea for “pocket parks”, and truly, if there ever was a town that backs Recreation, your standing in it.
The proof of this fact lies in the incredible volunteer efforts that brought us the original Skate Park and it’s recent remodel, the original and ongoing Disc Golf Course effort and the BMX tracks, too. All of which not only generate money for this city, but give us the recreation outlets that we so desire.
Think of what this town would look like without these efforts: No skate park, no disc golf course, no BMX tracks… (Kinda like Vail: No, No, No. We won’t help).
I implore you to find another city, anywhere, where the citizens have stood up and built so many recreational features and facilities in spite of not having the financial support from the City nor the Parks and Recreation Dept.
Douglas Co. spent a couple of hundred grand to build an incredible skate park in Minden. The Truckee-Donner Park and Rec. District did virtually the same and, I believe, won an park award in the process. The disc golf course just opened by Placer(?) Co. at the North Shore/National Ave Park was fully funded and professionally installed. No volunteer action nor efforts required. That’s what a well managed Park and Rec does.
The South Shore recreation community has done all of this and more with little or no municipal/government involvement nor funding. This has all been done In spite of having virtually no City or Park and Rec. support.
The only thing the City has done for these People who have stood up and gave an absolutely Herculean volunteer effort is to offer use of an underdeveloped Park. This Park is on land was given to the City by the one of the areas founding family’s, the Springmeyer’s.
With a consolidated effort, the South Shore is ripe to show how Recreation can lead a dying mountain town to a new and sustainable economy.
A future independent of the morally bankrupt gambling industry and the vice, prostitution and corruption that naturally follow it.
I believe that this all starts with cutting Park and Rec away from the incredible confines of the City and allowing to rise to it’s own level by means of it’s own funding source; an independent District. As independent of the City’s, (& County’s and State’s) under funded, mismanaged and corrupted reach as possible.
I am totally confident that We, The People of the South Shore, are much more competent to do this than our elected and appointed representatives have proven themselves to be.
Chip, you stepped up and became a Commissioner, for which I applaud you. Can you take the next step and take this idea to the Park and Rec. Board? Would you comment here on the outcome of such a discourse?
Finally, (whew), thank you Kathryn Reed, for your Herculean efforts to provide us this information through this site. I fondly look forward to any and all of your reporting regarding this, and many other subjects.
Chuck, an interesting idea. This warrants further research and discussion. I can put it on the agenda for the next meeting at 4:00 PM on Monday, Jan. 24th at the Rec Center. Investagation into similar municipal Parks and Rec would be needed. How are these departments and some of these projects funded? Where do grants from outside sources come into play? Can you and others look into this without being dismayed by how long it takes to make a change? I will say the floors of the city and just about every public and private boardroom is littered with projects and great ideas that were cut because of priorities and limited capital. Your involvement is appreciated, that is how things get done.