Preservation Parks director to retire

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Tom Curtin, executive director of Preservation Parks of Delaware County since 2014, announced his retirement at the Nov. 4 Board of Park Commissioners meeting. His retirement will be official March 3, 2023.

Curtin, who was hired in 2014, came to Delaware County from the Geauga Park District in northeast Ohio.

In the eight years since, Curtin has overseen the sustained growth of the park district, including the passage of the 2017 10-year levy and the 2021 passage of the land acquisition and park improvement levy. He was instrumental in creating the Preservation Parks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports park projects.

Keeping with the pace of county population growth, the park district has grown over 800 acres in eight years. Curtin has overseen the opening of Hickory Woods Park and Sycamore Run Park, the expansion of the Ohio to Erie Trail within the county, the building of the aviary at Deer Haven Park, multiple park improvement projects such as trails and wetlands, and introduced a new park district logo.

Prior to leading the Geauga Park District for 14 years, he was with Lake Metroparks for 16 years, starting out in operations as a maintenance crew leader. Subsequently, he worked in marketing, as a naturalist, as a recreation specialist and as a special events coordinator in the district.

A love for the outdoors drove Curtin to seek his initial park district job, he said, adding that he grew up in Lakewood (Ohio), a few minutes’ walk from Rocky River Reservation, a park within the Cleveland Metroparks system.

“It (nature) is something I’ve always been attracted to,” he said. “I always knew I would look for a job in the parks or nature business and was fortunate to be able to do that,” Curtin said when he started with the park district in 2014.

Upon retirement, Curtin plans to spend time with his family and hiking trails across the country.

Curtin
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2022/11/web1_Tom-Curtin.jpgCurtin

Submitted story

Submitted by Preservation Parks of Delaware County.

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