Sedalia Parks and Recreation Director Mark Hewett retired this week after 18 years leading the department, but his career in Sedalia Parks and Rec started long before that.
Hewett announced his retirement in early June and has been the director since August 1999. A Sedalia resident for more than 60 years, he got his start in parks work as a pool manager. He said his first job was working in the basket room of the old Liberty Pool during summers in high school and college, later becoming the first manager of Centennial Pool when it opened in 1972.
He earned a Bachelor’s of Science in parks and recreation from Central Missouri State University, now the University of Central Missouri, in Warrensburg in 1975. His first job out of college was as a recreation supervisor in Clayton, but he and his wife didn’t last long in the big city.
One day while the couple was stuck in traffic, Hewett got a call from Roscoe Righter, who Hewett worked for at the pool.
“We were sitting in a traffic jam, I hated that St. Louis traffic because we were just down home people. I said ‘Roscoe called and he’s got a position open in Sedalia as a recreation specialist and would you want to move back home?’” Hewett recalled. “… She looked around at the traffic, both ways, and goes, ‘yeah, I’d like to leave.’”
In 1976 they returned home and Hewett worked as Righter’s assistant, but Righter left the department in 1979 for Blue Springs. Hewett had his first chance in the director’s office.
“I lasted less than a year. We had no money. I wanted to do all these things, but we couldn’t,” Hewett said.
After about 20 years in private business, with three terms on the Sedalia City Council in the 1990s, Hewett returned to Sedalia Parks and Rec in 1999.
“It really gave me a good outlook on the inner-workings of city government,” Hewett said of his time as a councilman. “It really made me realize the things you can and can’t do.”
Hewett has overseen many projects during his second run at being director, but he said most of those projects wouldn’t be possible without the passage of the parks’ three-eighth cent sales tax in the mid-1990s.
“Really that was a must. The park had no money. I was on city council back then so I knew they just couldn’t hardly operate at all. They certainly couldn’t do any improvements really,” Hewett said. “… It made my job a lot easier. I was truly blessed to have a little extra money to work with and that made these special projects possible, so my hats off to the people for doing that.”
Some of those projects included heated bathrooms at Liberty, Vermont and Centennial parks, a new maintenance building at Clover Dell, new parking lots and shelter houses, and a playground at Centennial that is fully accessible to all ages and abilities. Most recently is the project at Vermont Park, which is nearing completion.
“That’s almost beyond a park improvement, that’s a neighborhood improvement,” Hewett said.
Other progress during Hewett’s tenure included adding employees, renovating Convention Hall and adding more recreation programs. He offered one of his “fondest memories” — Recreation Supervisor Amy Epple and her snowball hunt several years ago on a warm February afternoon.
“They used to have the ping pong drop at Thompson Hills Shopping Center and people would flock. … Amy said she was going to have a snowball hunt with small prizes and I said that’s great, but they used to have that ping pong drop and it might be bigger than you think,” Hewett recalled.
While at Liberty Pond for the opening of trout season, Hewett heard a traffic jam at Clover Dell on the scanner.
“I thought, ‘oh my God, that’s Amy!’ The closest I got was Clarendon Road,” Hewett continued. “… It was just a sea of people. … We still laugh about that.”
As he spoke with the Democrat on Tuesday, Hewett mentioned his office chair, which has one arm rest held to the arm with a rubber band wrapped around a few times. Hewett said the chair was in his office when he got the job, and it’s barely made it to his last day, which was Friday.
“Amy already said she’s getting rid of it,” Hewett said laughing.
Hewett will be succeeded by Epple, who takes over the position Monday. He said he’s leaving the department in good shape and in good hands.
