NASHVILLE – Continuing storm recovery efforts and preparation for the departure of longtime employee Miles Mitchell were primary topics at Thursday’s meeting of the Nashville Park Commission.
Mitchell, who is currently activities director with the parks system and has worked for the department in different roles for many years, has said that he will be leaving his job in February and hopes that the department can have somebody step seamlessly into place in time for the beginning of baseball season.
Interim parks director Wendy Harris noted that given the number of activities that Mitchell coordinates throughout the year, it will take a significant amount of time to train a replacement, and asked the board to consider hiring a person before the end of summer to begin training. The few board members present at Thursday’s meeting approved, and instructed Harris to begin advertising the position.
Harris also briefly recapped efforts to repair damage left by a tornado that passed through the main park on Johnson Street early last month, saying that all structures in the park which had suffered roof damage has been re-roofed, including the main park office, the former park office and a pavilion on the east side of the park. She also reported that most fences in the park have been repaired.
She noted that further work is still needed in other places, such as at the park’s stage and at the tennis courts, where the solid backstop for solo practice was leaning precipitously. Park commissioners ordered the immediate removal of the backstop, to be temporarily replaced with netting or hurricane fencing, in time for the upcoming two-day tennis camp this week.
