PORT ANGELES — Marc Connelly, the head of city parks and recreation, is leaving Feb. 7 to become executive director of the newly formed Peninsula Metro Parks District in the Gig Harbor area.
“I feel real good. It’s going to be really exciting,” Connelly said Wednesday afternoon.
“The area has park facilities managed by Pierce County, the state and Gig Harbor. State law allows formation of taxing districts to focus on parks.
“The new district will provide focus in an area that’s growing rapidly,” he said.
The new parks district was approved by Gig Harbor Peninsula residents on May 28. Besides himself, the new district has one other staff member, Connelly said.
“I’ll be the executive director. Right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do — we’re starting from the ground up,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to working with the commissioners there to create something just as special there as we have here in Port Angeles.”
Arrived in 2000
Connelly became the city’s parks and recreation director in November 2000 after working as planning and development manager for the city of Kirkland’s Parks and Recreation Department.
He became deputy director of recreation in January as part of a departmental reorganization plan approved Dec. 7 by the City Council.
Under the controversial reorganization plan, the Parks and Recreation Department became a division of the Public Works and Utilities Department.
Connelly went from being parks and recreation director to deputy director of recreation, one of four people reporting to Glenn Cutler, director of public works and utilities.
