Outgoing Director Hall Reflects on Rockville

Burt Hall, the City of Rockville’s recreation and parks director for the past two decades, retired today. 

Rockville Patch recently sat down with Hall as he reflected on his 39 years with the city and offered his perspective on managing big projects, handling criticism and the toughest decision of his career.

RedGate

Hall calls “probably the hardest thing I ever did in my career—the most stressful.

“I mean it was a big decision,” he said. “There was a lot of very, very strong feelings on both sides.”

There also was a lot of criticism of his recommendation to relinquish the city’s everyday operations of the struggling course, he said.

“When the decision was made to outsource the golf course and we got the lease proposal from Billy Casper Golf and were able to negotiate the lease, that meant layoffs for an entire staff,” Hall said. “And I had worked with [former course superintendent] Ray Evans for 30 years, [former golf professional and general manager] Kieron Mooney for over 20. And a lot of those other guys for just that long. It was very, very difficult.”

Billy Casper Golf offered jobs “to just about everybody,” Hall said, albeit often with different job descriptions and lower salaries. Only a few of the city staff stayed on.

“Almost without exception everyone has landed on their feet,” Hall said.

Mooney is working as a head pro at a course in York, PA, Hall said. Evans retired, but still works.

“But I do feel really good about preserving RedGate because I think to have a full recreation and parks services department, we should have a golf course,” Hall said. “But I’ve always said that I think a golf course should be self-supporting. And due to the market that we’re in, it had just reached the point where the city could no longer operate it on a self-supporting basis. So I think that was the right way to go. And I’m pleased that the taxpayers are no longer having to support the golf course, we have a golf course and it’s being operated at a high-quality level.”

The course is doing well under its new management, according to a report Thursday in The Sentinel.

“So far so good,” Hall said.

Projects and dollars

The , which is expected to begin housing the city’s police force later this month, an addition and renovation to the Senior Center, which was dedicated Friday, and a $9.1 million renovation of the Gude Drive Maintenance Facility are all complete or approaching completion.

“If the facilities and the parks are going to continue to be highly regarded and maintained at high-quality standards, then we need to keep improving them,” Hall said.

For example, the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center began as one indoor pool and one outdoor pool, Hall said. “It’s now two indoor pools, two outdoor pools, with a ‘spray ground’ and a big slide.”

Improvements take money.

A $1.5 million renovation of the indoor locker rooms at the center—“which really needs to happen”—is in the city’s capital improvement plans but remains unfunded, Hall said.

“One of the things I feel good about is we either built a lot of nice new facilities or we’ve done major renovations to existing facilities,” he said. The , Elwood Smith Community Center and Park and the , have all undergone renovations.

“All of that needs to continue in the future,” Hall said. “We’ve really been up at the plate for the last 10 to 15 years.”

Hall listed some of the projects built during that “at-bat,” including:

• Croydon Creek Nature Center.
• Thomas Farm Community Center.
• Mattie J. T. Stepanek Park.
• King Farm Park.
• Fallsgrove Park.
• The Millennium Trail bikeway.

“There is a little bit of a lull [in new projects] right now,” Hall said. “And that’s partially because the city decided to put a lot of the eggs in the baskets of the police station [and the] Gude Drive [Maintenance Facility]. Those are two very expensive projects.”

How to pay for future projects has been a point of contention among city leaders in recent years. In in November, outgoing City Councilman John Britton described the “ between those, such as Mayor [Phyllis] Marcuccio, who espouse the so-called ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach to capital expenditures and others who would utilize a mix of current revenue and borrowed funds for capital improvements.”

Rockville has “very good financial policies” and a , Hall said. The top bond rating makes it possible for the city to borrow money at the most favorable rates.

“Personally, I just don’t see how we can continue to maintain the city’s infrastructure and get done what we need to get done without continuing some borrowing—as long as it’s maintained under strict limits that are responsible,” he said.

Hall said he’s “not sure whether it makes sense” to save up for multi-million dollar projects at a time when interest rates are at historic lows.

“Obviously you don’t want to bond or borrow money for anything else but projects that have a long life,” he said.

The city’s ability to build such big projects has changed perceptions of what a municipal facility, such as the swim center, can look like, Hall said.

“I think we surprise people and that’s fun,” he said. “People go there and they say ‘Wow! This is owned by the government?”

Closing thoughts

• On the by former city employees at the hands of supervisors: The situation is “very upsetting and disappointing and concerning,” Hall said. “All I can say is we’re doing everything we can to treat people well and fairly and according to our personnel regulations.”
• On advice for his successor: “Keep listening to the neighborhoods and to your own staff because there’s a lot of wisdom out there.”
• On handling criticism: “Try to maintain an even keel and try not to take it too personally and realize people care a great deal about these items. I would prefer a high level of caring and emotion about these things.”

Click here to read more from Burt Hall about his career and his retirement.