Rome Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority is pleased to announce the hiring of Mary Hardin Thornton and promotion of Rick Haase. Both individuals are well known throughout the Rome and Floyd County area for their many years of service to the community.
Thornton takes over as the Special Services Manager in charge of the gymnastics program, Lock and Dam Park and Store as well as serving as a community liaison for the trails committees, all dog park programming and events along with several other programs and fund raising campaigns.
She brings a great level of experience having served as the director of Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful from 2005 until 2018 and recently as the Business Development Coordinator for ADAMS Management Services Corporation.
She is member of the Rome Rotary Club and Trails for Economic Development (TRED) and is currently serving as president of the Northwest Georgia Council BSA, treasurer for Network Day Service Center and treasurer for the Georgia Tree Council.
Haase is moving into the Sports Manager role. Haase has worked at the authority for more than 38 years, doing just about everything possible with the authority and its youth sports programs. In his new role, Haase will oversee all youth sports programs, officials and more.
“I’m very excited to welcome Mary Hardin to the team. She brings a wealth of experience in the community and is a great advocate for local parks and recreation,” RFPRA Director Todd Wofford says. “There is no one more qualified to step up to the Sports Manager role, than Rick. Rick has been acting as assistant sport manager for several years and was planning on retiring in December of this year. I am so thankful he changed his mind. His depth of knowledge about youth sports, officiating, league administration and more will help our young professionals immensely.”
RFPRA is currently taking applications for an assistant sports manager.
The duo’s knowledge and expertise is one key aspect, but Wofford also points out something else vital to the roles.
“Both Mary Hardin and Rick care about this community and you can see it in their words and their actions,” Wofford says.
Parks and Recreation has also hired a few other employees over the past few months. Jim Alred, an award winning multi-media journalist and marketing manager, takes over as the Recreation Services Manager. Shannan Fox, who brings a wealth of business experience across multiple industries, takes over as Office Manager.
Tim White joins the staff as a Sports Coordinator, and Faith Mount joins the sports division as an Admin Specialist.
“We are very happy to fill these positions with talented individuals, who all bring a lot of experience and new energy to the department,” Wofford says.