Recreation and Parks

615 S. McClelland Street
Santa Maria, CA 93454

Map of Lights, Sights, and Holiday Nights winners

Leisure Needs Assessment and Action Plan 2019
Parks Location Map
Final Appendix

ALEXANDER POSADA
Director of Recreation & Parks

City Phone: (805) 925-0951 ext. 2260
City Fax: (805) 925.4508
E-mail

EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT:

• Social Services, San Jose State University
• Social Work, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
• Public Administration, La Salle University
• Director of Recreation and Parks, City of Santa Maria
• Interim Recreation Superintendent, City of Santa Maria
• Recreation Supervisor, City of Santa Maria
• Facility Manager, City of Santa Maria
• Social Worker I, County of Santa Barbara
• Recreation Specialist, City of Santa Maria
• Recreation Specialist, Hayward Area District
• Teen Counselor, City of San Jose

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

• Kiwanis Club of Santa Maria
• United Way of the Central Coast
• Santa Maria Affiliate Santa Barbara Foundation
• Advisory Committee, Special Olympics Southern California
• North County American Red Cross Disaster Services
• American Red Cross

 DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsible for the daily operations and management of the Recreation and Parks Department. Provide staff support to the City Manager's Office, City Council and Recreation and Parks Commission. Supervise a staff of 30 full-time and 32 permanent part-time, assigned to 5 major divisions: Parks, Landscape Districts, Urban Forest, Recreation, and Administration. Services are provided in the following areas: city parks (225+ acres), part of Los Flores Ranch Park, publicly managed trees (30,000+), street medians, storm basins and rights-of-way (45+ acres), Santa Maria Town Center landscaping and parking structures, 7 major recreation facilities offering specialty recreation classes and programs and support to community based recreation programs i.e., youth basketball, youth soccer, etc.   

2020-21 Goals and Objectives

1. Implement the goals set and adopted in the 2019 Community Leisure Needs Assessment (CLNA) and the goals of the Mayors’ Task Force on Youth Safety.
2. Develop a comprehensive landscape district financial analysis and advance to the City Council for consideration and recommendations to address any structural deficits.
3. To improve the quality of life, complete the renovation of Russell Park, in collaboration with the Department of Public Works.
4. Blend the goals of the 2019 Community Leisure Needs Assessment and the City Council’s 2020 goal of offering more youth sports facilities by exploring the options for funding construction and using existing City fee programs to construct new facilities.
5. Maintain water conservation in the park system, including re-vegetation of landscape areas, rotation of scheduled watering, and investigating the use of non-potable water sources to reduce costs.
6. Develop alternatives for the implementation of the Public Arts Master Plan.
7. Work with the City ADA Coordinator in the development and implementation of an inclusion plan for use in the offering of leisure programs and services.
8. Using Playground Guardian software, implement a cloud-based City-wide playground safety inspection program.
9. Expand environmental education programming at Los Flores Ranch Park, Santa Maria River Trail, and across the urban park system, using the summer and after-school youth recreation programs as a delivery system.
10. Assess the needs of the population as well as the gaps identified by the Community Leisure Needs Assessment to determine which amenities should be provided in a new or redeveloped park or facility; include athletic fields, courts, and playgrounds over the next five years.

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