Middleton committees approve restructuring of youth center leadership, creating recreation coordinator role

On March 5, the City of Middleton personnel and finance committees recommended approval of a personnel restructuring that will make the youth center director a full-time (40-hour) salaried position and retitle the assistant youth center director as a recreation coordinator with the position split roughly 75% toward recreation work and 25% toward youth-center duties.

Staff said the change was prompted by the departure of the current youth center director, whose last day is May 17, and by a desire to redistribute full-time staffing across recreation programs. "The youth center director right now is 32 hours a week. And we're looking to make that full time," said Kylie, a parks and recreation staff presenter explaining the proposal.

Finance director Bill Burns told the committee the youth center’s annual budget is about $180,000, with roughly $95,000 coming from the city’s general fund and the remainder from the school district, county grants and ARPA. "The net effect is about $15,000," Burns said when comparing increased director hours and the assistant’s reallocation. Staff said a budget adjustment will be prepared to reflect the change.

Some members pressed staff on coverage if the assistant role is reduced and on compensation optics. A committee member said, "I just think it's mission critical... I just want to make sure it has longevity," voicing concern that losing assistant hours could affect backup coverage during vacations or sick leave. Staff responded that the recreation coordinator and the assistant director would provide overlap and that the current assistant could apply for the director position or the city could recruit externally.

The proposal also includes nontechnical clarifications for the job postings: scoring for language proficiency (with Spanish and American Sign Language receiving higher evaluation points) and conditional telework language requiring department approval. Staff noted remote work has been performed historically under exceptional circumstances (for example during COVID) but said typical program delivery will require on-site presence.

Personnel member Cole moved to approve the material change to the youth center director position and the revision of the assistant youth center director to recreation coordinator; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote in personnel. The finance committee then moved and approved the same personnel recommendation by voice vote.

Next steps: staff will prepare the recruitment materials and a corresponding budget adjustment to reflect the new allocations and the committees asked that program statistics (such as participants in need and previous wait-list status) be included in future updates to monitor service levels.