Longview Parks and Recreation director comes 'full circle' as he leaves post

Scott Caron has worked in cities in numerous states — Kansas, Illinois, Missouri and Texas.

But none of those places became home to him like Longview.

During his tenure as the city's Parks and Recreation director, he's overseen the completion of numerous parks projects — he estimated about 20 of various sizes and degrees.

Before Caron's hire in 2015, the city didn't have a parks director, and the department was under Community Services. In 2013, the city began work on its Comprehensive Plan, which is when it became apparent the community wanted a greater emphasis on parks and recreation, Caron said.

Caron had been working as the parks and recreation director in Rolla, Missouri, for 12 years before being hired in Longview. 

He's been married to his wife, Jennifer, for 27 years, and together they have three children — twin sons Alex and Tyler and daughter Abby. 

He received a Bachelor's in Leisure Management from the University of Missouri. As part of his graduation process, Caron took an internship at Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Missouri. It was there he gained a range of knowledge about the field, he said.

"I was fortunate to do my internship there," he said. "I got a lot of experience in aquatics — that was primarily where my focus was when I was there, and that's really how I got my start."

His first full-time job was as an aquatics director in Kansas where he ran an indoor/outdoor pool. Later, he moved to Illinois where he was part of projects that built a 9-acre outdoor water park and acquired a recreation center, he said.

Caron's next move took to Rolla, Missouri, where he operated a new recreation center. After the parks director in Rolla retired, Caron took the position and held it until his move to Longview in 2015. 

His start was aided by the city's Comprehensive Plan and Parks Master Plan, which he said worked as a guide to navigate the community's wants and needs.

"It made it easy to be able to say, here's the road map, here's what people wanna see, and that's basically what I've used in the past seven-plus year to work on everything that's been done here and work with the community to help move it along," Caron said.

After overseeing a variety of projects in the city, the one Caron takes the most pride in is the renovation of Broughton Recreation Center. The multi-million dollar project, which was completed this past year, was funded by the 2018 bond package.

The center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is such a large part of Longview's identity and has been well-utilized over the years, he said. When there have been issues or challenges in the community, people migrate to the facility.

Originally built in 1978, the facility had been exceptionally maintained by staff, he said.

"But it's dated a little bit, and so what I really wanted to do was to bring it up to today's standards and really welcome the community as a whole into the facility," he said. 

Not only did he want a "wow" factor, the center had to be functional as well and meet the needs of the community, Caron said.

"I think that's kind of what we accomplished," he said. "I really wanted ... for people to look at it and come in and use it and be like, 'Man, the city did this right,' and that was my goal all along — to make sure the community will be welcomed and they own it as much as they have in the past."

Caron has taken a consultant job with the firm Ballard*King & Associates based in Colorado. He's been working with the firm part-time but will become full-time as a senior associate and then will take on an ownership role this summer, he said.

Jeff King of Ballard*King was the director of Rec-Plex when Caron was an intern there, he said. He came to know Ken Ballard when he conducted a feasibility study in Rolla for the facility Caron worked for. Additionally, one of the men Caron was on the swim team with in college went on to work for King and eventually bought in as a partner at Ballard*King, he said. 

"So it's kind of come full circle," Caron said. "Two of the three main folks associated with the firm that I'm gonna be working with, I have a personal connection with, and so that's part of the main reason why I'm moving onto that." 

According to Caron, the city is in the process of hiring a firm to assist with the recruitment of a new Parks and Recreation director. He expects there will be an interim director after he leaves and the city likely will fill the position in the next few months.

He said he plans to stay in Longview with his wife after leaving his job with the city.

Caron said he enjoys the community and the pride it has in itself. The Longview community — which is interested in moving forward but staying who it is — is one he wants to continue to be a part of, he added.

Throughout his career, he said he's been fortunate to work with people and communities that have been overwhelmingly supportive.

"Kind of all along the way (my career has been) built on the experiences that I've had and somehow people believed in me or trusted me," he said.

Caron said he's just been doing the things people have been asking for in the community. In his opinion, his employees are the ones who figure out how to get things done. 

"I don't do much. I just point in a direction, and our staff takes off and does it," he said with a laugh.

"It’s been great to be able to work on so much for our community that they’ve wanted and partnered with a lot of really good people and organizations that really just wanna see things continue to get better," Caron said.