Richard E. Durr, Jr., CPRP, AICP, PLA
Seminole County Leisure Services Department Director
All response items below have been submitted and communicated exactly as they were written by the nominee.
Rick Durr has been serving in the Seminole County Government since 2012 and is currently Director of the County’s Leisure Services Department. As Director, he manages a headcount of over 190 employees with an annual operating and capital budget combined of over $19 Million. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida and is formally trained in project management with over 26 years’ experience in project planning, strategic planning, public space design, management and policy implementation. Prior to the role of Director, Rick served as Greenways & Natural Lands Division Manager for Seminole County and managed parks planning and improvements projects for the County.
Rick has been professionally licensed in the State of Florida as a Landscape Architect since 1996, as a Certified Planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners since 2001, and a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional since 2016. His experience includes serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission and Local Planning Agency for the Village of Royal Palm Beach, Florida for over nine years, including serving as Vice Chair or Chair for four of those years. Prior to his work at Seminole County, Rick spent eighteen years in private practice with a focus on parks, public spaces & greenways planning, design and construction. He has also spent time serving in various roles on a Youth Sports non-profit Board of Directors as a league organizer and treasurer, and nine years as a youth sports coach. Rick is a graduate of Leadership Seminole’s Class 28 in 2019 and has been speaking at and participating in FRPA events since 1999.
Rick is a native Floridian, has two grown children and resides in Lake Mary with his wife of over 30 years.
Why do you want to serve FRPA as Vice President?
To help FRPA provide the tools that support us all as leaders in our communities in the areas of the four pillars. To lead in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in our profession and in our communities. And to strengthen our membership, supporting the spectrum of roles within the parks profession through expanded educational opportunities.
To assist our current Board help us all to walk the talk.
What tools/resources do you utilize to stay on the cutting edge in the Parks, Recreation and Leisure profession, and where would you look to gain insight into what lies ahead as far as challenges and changes in the next five years?
My passion for parks and public service was realized in the mid-1990s the first time I participated in and providing my professional expertise for the planning of a regional trails project. Since then my 25 plus-years of parks, greenways, trails and natural lands experience has led to working with many communities to assist residents and elected leaders to realize their vision, establish goals and objectives to meet the current and future needs of their residents, and improve their quality of life through parks. My own public service has included facilitating recreation programs, serving neighborhood groups to address their parks and trails needs, establishing excellent rapport with elected representatives, hands-on experience with parks user groups and non-profits, and finally as Director of Leisure Services for Seminole County.
The tools and resources which I utilize to stay on the cutting edge in the Parks, Recreation and Leisure profession include: outwardly directed efforts within the profession; inwardly-focused efforts in working with a team of talented professionals to continually learn from each other; and lastly, continuing to learn from other industries and government leaders which affect and influence our profession.
Outwardly directed efforts specific to Parks, Recreation and Leisure Profession include:
-Active engagement in FRPA through volunteerism, collaboration and fellowship with peers in the profession in both informal and formal settings. Examples include participating in the annual spring Central Florida meetings in DeBary, actively participating in online programs such as the “Chat and Chew” zoom meetings or other outreach sessions and lastly, active engagement in formal agency functions, such as the Agency Summit and Annual Conferences.-Facilitating inter-agency collaboration and involvement between the County and our seven Cities in strategic planning, such as inter-County and multiple jurisdictional master planning programs for parks, trails and natural lands.-Reading and research of the latest materials issued by FRPA and NRPA, as well as other national publications such as those for parks design and construction professionals, community planning and landscape architectural publications;-Reading of daily bulletins through publications such as Athletic Business, Orlando Business Journal and other business publications;-Participation in the customized Annual Agency Performance Review through NRPA and analysis of the various national benchmarks and trends;-Active involvement and outreach to leaders in the Parks profession, such as other award-winning agencies and universities on anything from current issues to best practices;
Inwardly focused efforts include creating a collaborative environment for our Leisure Services Department Leadership Team to better inform and support each other with the challenges and changes within our profession. These efforts include:
-Fostering a working collaboration between the senior members of the Leisure Services Department within each profession. Our Department includes not just the Parks & Recreation Division, but Greenways & Natural Lands Program, UF/IFAS Extension Services and Seminole County Library System. These Divisions include staff with diverse backgrounds, such as professionals with advanced degrees; licensed, certified professionals in different, parallel fields; contractors and tradesworkers; trained educators; certified inspectors; professional biologists; and trained project managers. Harnessing this cross section of experience and input from professionals and specialists in their fields helps us to understand trends and insight into the future of our profession – and are critical to our continued success as an agency.-Working with the Leisure Services Leadership team to facilitate management discussions within a bi-monthly book club, along with other readings and discussion of leadership and management materials and trends. The emerging concepts or principles discussed in the book club is intended to then be incorporated into the active management of our agency.
Lastly, our professional does not exist in a silo, and is affected and influenced by other factors in governance, trends in economics, development and redevelopment. Therefore, some of the ways to stay current on trends which influence our profession include:
-Staying actively involved in our County’s annual Legislative Agenda preparation;
-Being engaged and collaboration with our County’s Executive Leadership Team;
-As a recent graduate of Leadership Seminole, continuing to support and actively participate in the continuance of the program, collaborating with other professionals, non-profits, industry and government leaders in the region;
-Making presentations and facilitating discussions with other community leaders in other forums, such as within various Rotary Clubs in Seminole County;
-Collaboration with peers in other parallel and/or supporting related industries, such as volunteer efforts with Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, Florida Planning & Zoning Association and Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects;
-Participating in educational sessions and professional outreach provided by other groups such as 1000 Friends of Florida programs;
One of the greatest challenges facing FRPA is the delivery of innovative and applicable professional development opportunities. What approach would you employ towards identifying potential training opportunities and how would you determine their overall effectiveness in meeting the needs of the membership? What strategy would you utilize for the development and implementation of these development opportunities?
With an endeavor like this in service of the membership, I would begin with direct communication with the membership – such as our past and current efforts in the Environmental Sustainability Work Group. We conducted a need assessment survey organized around the objective of determining and delivering innovative and applicable professional development opportunities for the membership. This survey and the responses collected will help guide the updating of online available resources as well as future outreach efforts.
We’ve also begun discussions about how to reach across and deliver services with other parallel disciplines. For example, an offering by a private provider of an online or in person seminar on economic impact of public projects may become a registered provider of CEU credits for the planning, landscape architecture and law profession. Diversifying opportunities across other disciplines may be an opportunity to further explore for the membership.
Lastly some of the work we’re currently doing in the Environmental Sustainability Work Group are to reexamine the educational opportunities and educational track available for parks facility professionals. This renewed effort should yield a robust offering for facility management professionals starting in 2022.