Since 1977, Dan Stencil has been a star on the Oakland County Parks roster.
With the upcoming retirement of Ralph Richard after 21 years on Feb. 24, Stencil moves off the playing field and onto the sideline, becoming the executive officer of the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission.
‘I’ll be the coach. I’ve graduated to the coaching fraternity. I’m no longer the quarterback or the fullback, although all of those people are very important to the process because one depends on the other,? Stencil said.
Stencil, a Clarkston resident since 1990, has held six positions with the county parks and feels the experience will serve him well when he takes the reins.
‘I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to stay in the same agency and to have held six different positions within the organization. I think it uniquely qualifies me because I have a lot of perspective,? Stencil said.
During his tenure Stencil has served as chief of parks operations, recreation supervisor, general maintenance supervisor at Springfield Oaks Activity Center and assistant park supervisor at Independence Oaks. He is also currently president of the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association. Currently Stencil is the administrator of park operations with OCP.
‘I’m a dreamer and I set goals for myself out of graduate school,? Stencil said.
Stencil graduated from Northern Michigan with a degree in park management in 1976 and received a master’s degree in administration from Western Illinois shortly thereafter. Along with his classroom training, Stencil credits the gridiron and the experiences gleaned as an All-American center on NMU’s 1975 Division II national championship football team.
‘This past summer we had the 30th reunion of our national championship football team and if you look the majority of the players on our team have all generally become very successful. Owners of businesses, leaders in their professions, doctors, lawyers, realtors, you name it they’re there. So there’s something to be said about athletics and the meaning of team work,? Stencil said, who played alongside Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo and former Detroit Lions Head Coach Steve Mariucci at NMU.
With the changing of the guard only weeks away, Stencil is well aware of the history of the position he will step into and the legacy of Richard, a man he credits as a mentor.
‘He’s (Richard) given almost 40 years of his life for our profession. I look at myself as being quite humble. I’ve had great mentors. I’ll be the fourth leader of our commission over the last 40 years, and also we are celebrating our 40th year in 2006,? Stencil said.
Under his guidance, Stencil does not want the parks in Oakland County to change drastically. Rather, he feels there is a system in place that works and his job is to make sure the good times continue to roll.
‘I know the park system didn’t get the national reputation that we have by deviating from the basics which the forefathers of the parks system established. It’s basically: trash, grass and restrooms,? Stencil said. ‘Our report card, so to speak, is keeping the parks well maintained, providing a highly trained and professional staff and then providing them with unique services as well as open space.?
Working together with local park systems is also on Stencil’s agenda.
‘They (Independence Township) are part of the 61 CVT’s ? cities, villages and townships ? in the county and because we have a facility in Independence Township (Independence Oaks) we try to collaborate with them. Something we are trying to do as a staff, I am terming it the community connection initiative, where we’re going to go out and meet with representation of the 61 CVT’s to get their feedback on their needs for recreation and open space in Oakland County,? Stencil said. ‘We’ll talk about some unique things that we could do to assist them. Municipal finance is broken, the money that they had at one time, where they were able to have their own parks and recreation department, they may have had to scale back or modify some of their program approaches.?
Stencil is taking his move to the penthouse of parks and recreation in stride though and does not plan to change his down to earth way of management.
‘I am one who is very much a believer in delegation and empowering people to excel at whatever god-given talent they are given ? Is one person more valuable than someone else? No. The 90 plus full-time employees that we have and the 500 seasonal employees that we have, everyone is equally important to the continued success of our park system. Whether you are a 16-year-old working for us for the first time or a full-time employee that’s been with us for 35 years, everybody’s important,? Stencil said.
And while much of his focus is on keeping the parks up to snuff, Stencil envisions big things to come.
?(I want) accreditation for our agency and to win a gold medal award, which is the highest award a parks and recreation agency can achieve. Kind of like the Oscars of parks and recreation. It’s a highly competitive and prestigious award. I think in 1992 we were one of four finalists. Both of these projects require a significant amount of work, but it’s good work because it helps you measure yourself against nationally set standards,? Stencil said.
To find out more about Dan Stencil, please go to www.clarkstonnews.com and search for Parks exec loves being part of Clarkston in the editorial section.