Brandon Lovett
ONEIDA ? Brandon Lovett is resigning from his post as the city?s Parks and Recreation director to take a position with the City of Rome?s administration.
Beginning March 5, Lovett will serves as the director of administrative services in his hometown under newly-elected Mayor Joe Fusco. In the appointed position, Lovett, 33, will be responsible for all human resource-related issues dealing with the city?s workforce. He?ll also be responsible for working on policies, procedures and projects initiated by the mayor.
The position will give him an opportunity to diversify his background and allow him to ?continue to grow as a professional,? he said. While it?s a far jump from recreation services, the new job will take Lovett in the direction he hopes to continue: city administration and public service.
It will also groom him for a potential advancement in politics. He said he would be interested in seeking a position as an elected official in some capacity, but said it would be ?far down the road, when I?m older and wiser,? he laughed.
This won?t be the first job Lovett will hold as a city employee in Rome. Under former mayor Joe Griffo?s administration in 2001, he worked as a recreation specialist. In 2004 he was promoted to deputy director of parks and recreation under mayor Jim Brown and then community and economic development coordinator in 2006.
In 2007 he took the position of Recreation Director in the City of Oneida and, as he says, was asked to do one thing: ?restore order and confidence to a department in disarray.?
?I feel that not only have we succeeded, but we excelled along the way,? Lovett said.
Since then, he has reduced the department?s annual operating budget by nearly $100,000 while reducing the Rec Center?s energy costs by nearly $10,000 and increased its annual revenue by $20,000.
He was pivotal in securing $45,000 in funding for the Allen Park playground project. He?s also planted more than 100 trees and added and improved flowers, signs, benches and street planters. Upgrades have also been made under his leadership to the city?s parks, sporting fields and Rec Center, along with the recreation of community events like the Halloween party, Christmas tree lighting and Winter Carnival. He also played a crucial role in repairing and strengthening the city?s relationships with Oneida Little League Baseball, Oneida Pop Warner Football and the Oneida?s Men?s Softball Association.
Lovett called his resignation ?bittersweet.? Continued...
?I enjoy what I do; I love what I do,? he said. ?The time has come to move on. I?m fortunate that Mayor Fusco saw something in me and he was interested in bringing me on board to join his team.?
While that position, appointed by the mayor, is contingent upon who the next mayor decides to hire, Lovett was confident that ?I?ll land on my feet wherever I am.?
Fusco named Lovett?s attributes of being an ?excellent task master, extremely organized and in-tune? as the reasons he selected him for the position.
?He knows the City of Rome inside and out,? he said.
Having known Lovett for several years, Fusco said he knows what he can expect from him.
?He knows what we need and he?s going to help me get there,? he said.
Happy to see Lovett ?coming back to Rome, coming home,? Fusco said he has a ?monumental job in front of him,? but was certain that he would accomplish it, saying ?he?s not one to shy away from a challenge.?
Lovett was confident that the recreation department will continue to be successful without him.
?The department is in a great position,? Lovett said. ?We?re efficient and established and I think the current staff is equally as qualified to continue to administer the day-to-day operations and much more.?
Mayor Don Hudson said the city is ?looking at the possibility of promoting within,? to Recreation Coordinator Luke Griff or Senior Account Clerk Patti Meakin. Continued...
?As an administration we?re hopeful that a lot of his work ethics and habits have rubbed off on the rest of the staff in Parks and Recreation,? Hudson said. ?And the programs he initiated will continue.?
While the decision of who to replace Lovett will be the Common Council?s, Hudson was hopeful that councilors will agree to promote from within instead of hiring a new person.
Hudson credited Lovett with exceeding the expectation of the administrations he served under in bettering the department.
?Not only did he turn the department around, but he was instrumental in many of the changes that we have seen within the Rec Center,? Hudson said.
?The City of Oneida?s loss is truly the City of Rome?s gain,? he said. ?On behalf of the City of Oneida, I wish Brandon all the success in the world in his new position and let him know he will always have a home in the city of Oneida.?
In turn, Lovett extended a thank you to Griff and Meakin ?for all their efforts and professionalism.?
?Our successes were impossible without them,? he said. ?I?d also like to thank the entire city workforce, past and present common councilors, former Mayor Leo Matzke, Peter Hedglon and current Mayor Don Hudson for your guidance, support and leadership.
?I leave Oneida with a clear conscious and belief that both Luke Griff and Patti Meakin will continue to administer the department at a high level and both have the work ethic and creativity to offer some of the best park facility and recreational services in the state.?
Source: http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/02/14/news/doc4f3af33f2b0c9080169011.txt
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