Naples Recreation reborn as Community Services

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Before the month of May ends, the Naples Recreation Department will have been dissolved.

The new department will be called the Naples Community Services Department; and a new hire will serve as the Community Services Director starting May 29, according to Naples Town Manager John Hawley.

These changes reflect the concerns and desires that have been expressed by some Naples residents over the past few years, as well as changes discussed by the Naples Board of Selectmen this winter.

“It is now official that the recreation department is being dissolved,” Hawley said Tuesday afternoon.

The newly-formed department will be called the Naples Community Services Department, he said. As was mentioned during a selectmen’s meeting in April, the person over that department will work full-time.

“We have hired a gentleman from Auburn Parks and Recreation, Peter Ceprano,” Hawley said.

According to the City of Auburn Parks and Recreation website, Ceprano was one of three recreation specialists who worked under the Auburn parks and recreation director.

These changes in Naples occurred because the board of selectmen “opted to go in this direction, versus having just a recreation department,” Hawley said.

The new entity will “incorporate a lot of the services” for the residents of Naples, he said.

“Legal had suggested the best way to do this would be to create the new job description and go through the hiring process. So, that is the route that they [the selectmen] took,” Hawley said.

The position for the full-time community services director was advertised in The Bridgton News, on the Maine Municipal Association’s (MMA) website, on the town’s website, the town’s Facebook page, and through the job search website indeed.com

The interview process began on April 19.

The town had received 26 resumes, from which the town manager selected six people to interview. Six candidates were contacted and two of them decided not to continue with the job hunting process.

“Then, we interviewed four and invited one of the four back for the second interview,” Hawley said.

He had expected to announce the new hire during the selectmen’s meeting on Monday, but there were a few items to tie up before doing so.