Dallas City Wire

The search for the next director of Dallas Park and Recreation Department is occurring during a time dominated by the spread of the novel coronavirus. This means that the potential batch of candidates to serve as department head may not know what’s going on in the search.

After a three-month search, the pool that started with more than three dozen applications is down to three candidates: interim director John Jenkins; Daniel Betts director of recreation in Cincinnati; and Gordon Robertson, director of planning at Denver Parks and Recreation. The three candidates were interviewed March 5, and stayed  for a public “meet and greet” in Dallas City Hall’s Flag Room, to meet with city council, department leaders and park staff, and friends groups, according to a March 27 article in D Magazine.

In that same article, D Magazine writer Shawn Shinneman discussed the openness of the selection process and found that several issues arose after a telephonic meeting of the search committee March 26.

Park and Recreation Board commissioner Jesse Moreno expressed unease about the selection process, telling Shinneman that several board members were concerned about a lack of public input, and that the March 26 meeting complicated the transparency issue.

First, the committee reached a decision in a closed-door session, and members of the public were not able to dial in to listen. Also, audio was not available, which should concern citizens of Dallas, according to Moreno.

Dallas City Wire obtained a copy of the candidate list as well as a copy of the shortlist of candidates for this position. The media outlet reached out to Joyce Beamon, an administrative assistant II for the city of Dallas, to ask about the authenticity of the documents. Beamon did not return multiple calls for comment on this story, or talk about the documents that Dallas City Wire obtained.

The board received a letter concerning the actions of Jenkins, from a concerned citizen who is also an officer of the NAACP.  In his letter, Bob Lydia alleged there were complaints of class-wide civil rights harassment and discrimination; workplace situations allegations based on hiring, firing, performance appraisals and other activities; and allegations based on employment policies.  Lydia said that after these claims were investigated, employees who were deposed in the investigation faced retaliation.

Jenkins told D Magazine that the letter was full of outright lies, and Lydia has since told D Magazine that the men have discussed some of the issues outlined in his letter. Lydia told the magazine that he no longer wants Jenkins to be removed from the candidate pool.

Dallas has 397 parks and more than 20,000 acres of developed and undeveloped park land, as well as more than 158 miles of trails for hiking and biking, in addition to nature areas, a disc golf course, and the 1,015-acre White Rock Lake in its system. The new parks director will be responsible for managing all these facilities.