PERRYVILLE NAMES HEAD FOR NEW MULTIPURPOSE CENTER, PARKS

The Perryville City Council has named its pick to oversee the final stages of construction on a new $9 million multipurpose building and prepare it to open by April 1.

Robert Held, previously the activities manager at a private resort in Washington County, has been named director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department and will start work Jan. 4.

Although he will be in charge of the city's entire parks system, his primary duties will involve the new Perry County Multipurpose Center.

"This is a great opportunity for me with the brand new facility," Held said.

Held, 32, one of three finalists for the job, was chosen from 35 applicants.

"Basically what the final decision came down to was he seemed to have the greatest amount of experience in the areas we are concerned about," said Craig Lindsley, Perryville's city manager.

Held, a native of Brush, Colo., ran a 21,000-square-foot sports arena, recreation and theater complex at Lost Valley Lake Resort in Gerald, where he had worked for the last nine years.

His duties included programing a variety of events and activities for the more than 125,000 annual visitors to the 538-acre resort.

"He has good people skills and my personal opinion is he will fit within the confines of our community very well," Lindsley said.

To prepare the multipurpose center for its scheduled opening, Held will spend the next three months developing a budget and fee structure for the facility, hiring staff, supervising the final stages of construction and determining equipment needs.

Held said the fee structure will be such that it will generate ample revenue while not being too expensive for residents to use.

"Affordability for everyone is our main concern," he said.

Once a budget is in place, Held said his biggest task will be to hire a staff, which will include a maintenance supervisor, a marketing director and an activities director.

When the building is operational, Held will be responsible for programming activities and special events, which could include concerts, craft fairs, outdoors shows, conventions and sports tournaments.

The goal, he said, is to provide family-oriented events. To that end he is open to community suggestions.

The center, which is being funded by a countywide, voter-approved sales tax, will consist of four connected segments: an indoor swimming pool, a multipurpose gymnasium with seating up to 2,000 people for special events, a 400-seat performing arts center and a new home for the Perryville branch of the Riverside Regional Library.

The rest of the city's parks system appears to be strong, Held said, though he does plan to examine it thoroughly once the multipurpose center is operating.

"Right now I'm mainly concerned with the new facility," he said. "That will be a big task. The rest of the park areas are doing very, very well, but obviously we will do what we can to enhance them.