ANDERSON, Ind. — When newly appointed city Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent John Gates competitively swims, he tends to sprint to the finish.

He plans to take the opposite approach in his position at the parks department, where budget and staff cuts have left employees scratching their heads as to how to maintain services for residents with much less money.

“I tend to be more of an endurance person and kind of looking at things instead of jumping right in and changing a lot,” Gates said. “I tend to be somewhat reflective before I jump in.”

Gates was appointed to the superintendent post, a position he held from 1998 to 2005, during Tuesday’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board. He fills the position left by former superintendent Fred Reese, who was fired after Mayor Kris Ockomon said he did not complete the necessary training requirements.

Gates already was a city employee, working in the controller’s office and coordinating federal grants for the city. As he finishes his work in the controller’s office, he will focus more on his parks duties.

“For the last two weeks, I’ve done a little bit of both and that’s tough,” he said.

Also recently, Gates has worked alongside volunteers to repaint portions of the interior of the Geater Center, a community recreation center operated by the parks department. City plans involve moving some of the parks departments offices into the Geater Center, 1611 Chase St., as the department’s current facility, the North Anderson Community Center at 101 E. Oak St., is slowly shut down.

Making good use of volunteers is one strategy Gates plans to use to get the department back on track despite losing a majority of its budget in 2010.

“I want to stress, although the budget is very tight, community programming for youth, adults and seniors,” Gates said. “The other area is to explore and emphasize neighborhood site volunteer involvement; for us to manage and operate that Geater Center, we have to rely on volunteers.”

Gates mentioned a volunteer group that takes care of Jackson Park on the city’s west side and the Anderson Roadrunners who have adopted the area around Shadyside Lake as examples of how volunteers could help the department.

Other measures Gates plans to take is spending time with the remaining employees at the parks department, assessing their knowledge and abilities.

“We have to be more multifaceted, have to cover more areas,” he said.

Finally, Gates plans to look at creative corporate sponsorships and subscription programs, including planning a possible telethon in the future once fiber optic telephone lines are installed in the Geater Center, an idea he credited to Recreation Superintendent Rodney Chamberlain.

“I’m pretty excited,” Gates said. “There are quite a few challenges in the budget and in lifestyle. (People’s) work hours have increased. That leisure time has been reduced and the work hours have increased. We have to try to get people back into the quality of life feeling.”

Increased work hours is only one community change Gates has seen since his first stint with the parks department when he graduated from Indiana University in 1971 after majoring in parks and recreation with a business minor.

“Back in our building days, when the economic times were much different, we did quite a bit of building. At one point we had a 16-page summer brochure. We were just doing some really neat things.

“Back in those days, it was much different. Anderson probably had a population of 70,000-75,000 people. It was one of the 10 top cities in the country with disposable personal income.”

City Board of Public Works Chairman Greg Graham said he had known Gates for 25 years and that Gates was a natural appointment as parks superintendent.

“He knows the park system inside and out,” Graham said. “He’s a very detailed person. He understands parks budgets. He has a lot of experience dealing with the public with park issues. I think he will serve the public well.”

Although she has never worked with Gates, parks board member Jessica Woodall said he had set a good record for himself.

“I just want to see positive things happen in our community because at this particular time, the economy is very bad and it’s not about the park board, it’s about the people,” Woodall said. “We are there to serve.”

Park board member Dick Bevelhimer said Gates was the parks department superintendent when Bevelhimer was first appointed to the parks board.

“John is a very thorough person,” Bevelhimer said. “He’ll be a good superintendent. He’s very good at record-keeping; he’s really good at keeping the park board members involved in what’s going on.”

Graham said Gates was a good person to have as superintendent during the parks department’s time of transition.

“It will be challenging,” he said. “In some respects, they’re kind of starting with a blank sheet of paper. The challenge becomes providing the services that parks has delivered.”



Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.