The Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission will be reopening its search for a new parks director after their appointee rescinded his application Tuesday.
Lawrence Hemingway, current parks and recreation director for Evanston, Ill., was appointed by the commission Aug. 4 to become the next county parks director pending approval of a pre-employment background check by the commission and his appointment by county commissioners.
During a Wednesday meeting, Chairman Gary McGillivray informed his fellow parks commissioners that Hemingway had rescinded his application Tuesday and that there would be no need to discuss his pre-employment background check.
It’s unclear why Hemingway decided to rescind his application for the job.
The parks commission will reopen the application process and cast a wider net to attract diverse applicants, including internal and external. Applications will be collected for four weeks before finalists are identified.
“We want to move a lot quicker than the first round,” said McGillivray. “We will take all internal and external people. I hope some internal folks apply. We have some very qualified people here.”
GovHR USA, a national recruiting firm, will again lead the national search at no additional cost to the county, according to McGillivray. In the spring, GovHR was hired by the parks commission to lead the search for candidates.
The commissioners expressed disappointment that Hemingway backed out citing his professional experience and qualifications, but remained confident in finding the right person to replace Dan Stencil, who retired in April. Sue Wells remains the interim director, but will retire in early 2022.
Candidates who applied last spring will be encouraged to reapply and will be made aware of the new opportunity.
Hemingway’s decision not to seek the county’s parks director position followed news reports that the Evanston City Council had hired an outside law firm on July 22 to investigate allegations by female beach staff last summer that they were sexually harassed and assaulted by some male co-workers in the parks and recreation department. The investigation is ongoing.
On July 27, the city released a statement that the firm is looking at the validity of the allegations and whether city officials responded in a timely and appropriate manner. Investigators will also provide recommendations for the city.
In an earlier statement, city officials said they reacted properly to the allegations, which included mandatory sexual harassment training for employees.
