Cozad reflects on long career in parks and recreation

A child hitting tennis balls on the court, a hiker on a trail or an ice skater at the rink. When Karl Cozad sees the city’s parks and recreation facilities being utilized it makes his job worthwhile.

“I take great pleasure in that,” Cozad said. “If we have provided a positive experience for people, then I’m happy. Our role is to make a positive difference in people’s lives and hopefully I played some small role in that.”

After serving as the city of Whitefish’s Parks and Recreation director for the last six years, Cozad is retiring from the post. He wraps up a 42-year career in parks and recreation management.

Cozad is quick to note that any accomplishments of the parks department are not his own, but the result of hard work by community members and parks and recreation staff.

“The success is possible because of the private, nonprofit and city partnerships that have created facilities,” he said. “Also because of the outstanding efforts by the parks and recreation department staff and their commitment to making our services successful.”

Cozad began his career in parks management in Los Angeles before moving on to parks and recreation director positions in Anaheim, Calif., The Dalles, Ore., and Ontario, Ore. Prior to coming here, he was director of the Community Action Partnership in Pullman, Wash.

He said Whitefish is unique from other communities in that it has a “can-do attitude” that means not only coming up with an idea, but finding the way to support that idea through fundraising.

When Cozad gives tours of Whitefish to other parks and recreation directors he makes sure to point out that the city wouldn’t have these great facilities without community support.

The Wave is an example of a facility that, he says, “cities four times the size of Whitefish would love to have.” Smith Fields is another and one that surprises other parks directors to find out was created and maintained not by the city, but by volunteers. The Hugh Rogers WAG dog park, Armory Park, the Stumptown Ice Den and the Whitefish Trail are also on that list of community-created amenities.

“The commitment of time, energy and personal resources is outstanding and has created the recreational opportunities that create the quality of life here,” he said. “The list goes on and on — it’s possible because of the community involvement.”

In addition to parks and facilities, Cozad noted that the programs provided by his department have also expanded. He points to his staff as the reason for the success of the summer day camp and the after-school program. Some 2,000 campers come through the city program each summer and the after-school program averages 30 children per day.

“It’s great that we can get the kids involved in life-long positive activities,” he said.

While the parks and recreation facilities provide great opportunities for citizens, they also can be an economic driver for the city, Cozad said. He notes the dog park as an example of a park that often has out-of-state license plates in the parking lot. The ice rink with hockey tournaments and figure skating events draws people who stay in hotels and eat at restaurants.

“I’ve talked with people at the dog park who say they stay in Whitefish rather than somewhere else just because of the dog park,” he said.

Along with development of parks and facilities comes maintenance. That will be one of the challenges the parks department continues to face, Cozad noted.

“There always has to be recognition that it takes financial resources to maintain facilities,” he said. “The worst thing that can happen is to develop something and then it falls apart.”

Cozad said it’s hard for him to leave, but he’s ready to spend time with his grown children and three grandchildren. Now he’ll also have the time to get out and be active — playing tennis with his wife, spending time with his golden retrievers or fly fishing.

“There’s still a long list of projects that need to be done,” he said. “But I realized that no matter whether I’m here or not there will always be a long list.”

The timeline for hiring a new parks director hasn’t been set. The city will open the position for applications first in-house and then expand the search if necessary. A hiring committee will make a recommendation on candidates to the city manager for ultimate selection.