After digging through 70 applicants, the city of Durango has chosen its new Parks and Recreation director: Ture Nycum of Fruita, northwest of Grand Junction.
Nycum will be joining the city after spending 14 years as parks and recreation director in Fruita and more than two decades in the field. He will replace Cathy Metz, who retired Friday after spending 25 years with the city. Durango City Council approved Nycum’s hiring Tuesday during a special meeting.
“I think he’s going to do well. The biggest thing for the community is understanding Cathy did a tremendous amount for us. To compare him to Cathy would be unfair to anyone,” said José Madrigal. “Ture is going to come in and be Ture. ... The residents are going to see someone who’s open and collaborative and willing to do the work here.”
Nycum, who said his first name rhymes with “hurry,” ran the athletics program in the city of Louisville, Colorado, for seven years before joining the city of Fruita. He has also coached racquetball at the University of Colorado and is an avid mountain biker.
Nycum was eating dinner with his family Tuesday when Madrigal told him he was appointed by City Council.
“I’m honored and awed and ... very excited to get started,” Nycum said. “I know there’s a lot of focus on parks and recreation in the Durango area, and rightly so. I know I will have large shoes to fill with Cathy Metz retiring, but I’m just excited to start my new role and new position down there.”
The Durango Parks and Recreation Department employs hundreds of people – the most out of any city department – and has the second-highest department budget at $7.1 million.
The city wanted to find a director who was familiar with the types of recreation amenities available in Durango, and who could build on them, Madrigal said. The city also prioritized someone who is collaborative and will build community partnerships, with the financial acumen and management experience to meet Durango’s needs.
Of 70 applicants, 11 met the criteria for the position, Madrigal said. Nycum beat four other finalists from around the country for the position.
Madrigal said Nycum stood out among staff members for his decades of municipal experience in communities with similar recreational amenities and needs.
“When he talked about building partnerships, being collaborative, he was obviously the unanimous choice of the group,” Madrigal said.
The City Council approved the hiring with two votes in favor and one abstention. Mayor Kim Baxter and Councilor Jessika Buell voted in favor, while Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Noseworthy and Councilor Melissa Youssef were absent from the special meeting.
Councilor Olivier Bosmans abstained from the vote, saying he had no information about the candidate before the meeting.
“I’m not for or against this person. I just can’t make a decision or approval without any information – that would be rubber-stamping,” Bosmans said. “A lot of people in our community care a lot about this role.”
The city manager has responsibility for all organizational hires, Baxter said. By city charter, the only hiring decisions the council can make concern the city manager, city attorney and municipal judge, Baxter said.
However, the council verifies the city manager has gone through the appropriate hiring process, she said.
“His experience is vast over numerous years. I’m actually very excited about it because he’s also very familiar with the mountain biking world and managing that to the benefit of our community,” Baxter said. “We started out as the mountain biking community of the nation, and I’d like to see us continue that.”
Nycum, who plans to begin working in person in September, said his past experience building a recreation center and numerous miles of hard and soft surface trails would help him in the new position. He also has experience handling a $4.2 million departmental budget, he said.
His first goal is to learn about the community by meeting with people and talking about priorities for recreation.
“It’s just really making sure I understand the community of Durango and what the parks and recreation desires are for the community,” Nycum said.
smullane@durangoherald.com
