The West End Park and Open Space Commission discussed reorganizing last week because its longtime director is retiring.

Bernie Kozen, the executive director of Chestnuthill Township Parks and Recreation Department, retires on April 30, and for many years he wore a number of hats as the director.

“He is the event planner, the bookkeeper, he takes care of all the banking, plans and organizes all the events at the parks, not to mention the Fleetwood Scholarships,” said Carl Gould, a member of the WEPOSC.

Everyone at the meeting agreed the biggest challenge in replacing Bernie is to find someone who has experience and can hit the ground running and who will be willing to do it on a part-time salary.

The idea is to have input and data from each of the townships currently in the West End Park and Open Space Commission.

“We are looking to hire someone,” said Ross Township Chair Chris Doerbeck.

Two candidates were interviewed, but neither one is really qualified for the position and both candidates wanted a substantial amount more than we were looking to offer, he said.

Kozen was a full-time employee with a yearly salary of $52,324.

Trina Drake, secretary for Ross Township, pointed out that in the job market most candidates are looking for benefits, such as health insurance and retirement.

“Taking those things from the commission’s treasury, our bank account would really jump up what both townships would have to contribute, without even adjusting the salary,” she said.

One solution suggested was hire a college intern to step in and run the Chestnuthill Township Parks and Recreation Department, but the down side is it would be a very big undertaking for someone who has no experience.

After a great deal of back and forth, Gould asked to speak. He said a reorganization of the recreation commission will not go quickly.

“I personally believe that it’s better for us to have an executive director, the way it’s been. One of the things I’d like the board to think about here is part of the reason Chestnuthill has made the offer to hire the person is if you look at the hours Bernie puts in, a significant portion of his time is spent with bookkeeping, banking, grant writing, all those things. Those are all things that we can offer to our partner townships, and it will be a minimal additional expense to us because we already have those positions in play.”

He added, “The reason we’re offering that is because we don’t really see another way for any of the other townships to put that kind of money out. To be quite honest with you. It’s a big-ticket item. We did look at the Pennsylvania site surveys on Parks and Rec directors and what they’ve been asking for,” he said.

Gould agreed that was more in the populated areas but said, “We’re still probably realistically $35- to $40,000 shy of the salary itself and then you throw the benefits on top of that. And you’re looking at probably $60,000 to $70,000 a year.

“Because there are a lot of questions, there’s a lot of things, we don’t want to drop the ball on things here. We want this to put the Parks and Rec and the West End in a position to move forward,” he said.

He said the commission needs to make a recommendation to the municipalities for this process, then look at an intergovernmental agreement.

Gould reassured that every township in the West End Park and Open Space Commission will have a voice.