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Abbeville City Council does not hire a parks and recreation director

The City of Abbeville is still without a parks and recreation director.
The city has been without one for two months since it fired rec director Jerry Smith.
The Abbeville City Councilmen and Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza interviewed three candidates for the parks and recreation director job on Tuesday before the city council meeting.
The three candidates, all from out of town, and as far away as north Louisiana, sat with the councilmen and mayor. All three had a college degree in sports management, but not one ever ran a recreation league. One was a teacher, the second worked at Academy Sports in Lafayette, while the third worked in the athletic department at Northwestern State.
Because they had no recreation experience, the council decided to hold off on hiring.
So the question is why were they the three finalist despite not having any recreation experience?
The answer is simple. The criteria to be a parks and recreation director in Abbeville states you have to have a college degree in the related field of parks and recreation.
The three interviewed had sports management degrees.
There were 37 applicants applying for the job and 35 had college degrees. A handful with college degrees even had experience working in recreation with youths. But because their degrees were in finance, business, general studies or non parks and recreation field, they did not make the interview list.
There was even one applicant, who did not have a college degree, but ran a youth league in the parish. He was not qualified, according to the city’s criteria.
“It was clear after the personnel director gave us the list of 37 applicants, and only 3 qualified for an interview, the qualifications for the position are too stringent,” said Councilman Brady Broussard. “Many local persons applied for the position and seemed very qualified, but were unable to be a finalist because though they had experience in this field, the college degree they possessed is in an unrelated field.”
Members of the City Council and the Mayor are expected to set up a meeting with Woody Woodruff, the attorney of Abbeville’s Civil Service Board. The city council would like to change the qualifications needed to be parks and recreation director in Abbeville.
They are expected to talk with Woodruff about removing a college degree requirement altogether or take out a college degree in the related field of parks and recreation. Before the city can change any wording, the Civil Service has to approve it.
If the Civil Service votes not to change the wording, then the councilmen may have to hire one of the three candidates it interviewed Tuesday afternoon.
“The Mayor and Council feel strongly that the qualifications as they are now are a hindrance to finding the best person to lead our parks and recreation program going forward,” Broussard said. “The Council tabled this issue last night so the City can now begin to explore solutions to the problem.”

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