The interim Metro Parks and Recreation Department director and one of his assistants are the two final candidates in line to lead the department full time.
Four candidates applied for the permanent parks director position, according to Metro Human Resources spokeswoman Robin Brown, but only two were qualified.
The Metro Charter requires the parks director have at least five years of experience in parks or recreation administration in a supervisory or executive capacity.
Requirements disqualified two applicants, leaving current Interim Director Tommy Lynch and Assistant Director Paul Widman as the only two candidates. Widman oversees the department’s recreation, cultural and wellness division.
Lynch, 61, told The City Paper in August he would be applying for the job. He’s held it on an interim basis since November 2009 when former parks director Roy Wilson resigned amid controversy over a department budget overage.
Referencing newfound stability in the department, parks board chair Ivanetta Davis Samuels launched the search for a full-time director two months ago.
Brown, of the human resources department, said the nine-member parks board would be scheduling interviews with the candidates in the coming weeks. A decision to hire Lynch or Widman would rest with board members.
One of the two disqualified candidates is Marquis Stephens, a parks program coordinator.
Brown said she couldn’t disclose the name of the other person because he hadn’t been notified.