FARMINGTON — After Friday, Steve Shible plans to spend more time with his family, his wife, his son and especially his two grandsons.

After 35 years serving as Farmington Parks and Recreation director, Friday, May 29, is Shible’s last day before retirement. 

When Shible started in 1977, the town was debating whether to keep the Community Center or sell it, he said of the home base for the department.

 The Municipal Building had been built a few years before. The town office and police department moved there. A citizen study was done and the decision made to keep the building and start putting some money in to it, he said.

But, it was evident there was a need to adapt to a “pay as you play” policy to keep the department going.

When he started, his role was to basically take care of the building, keep it clean and come up with a few programs for the community, he said.

There have been a lot of programs started over the years, he said. Somewhere the idea the department offers 17 programs started but that is not the totality of what is offered, he said.

Sometimes a program is not a hit and run but a hit and miss, he said. But, that did not stop him from attempting to offer a little something for everyone.

Although he basically ran the department alone until 2001 when his first assistant director was hired, Shible took several years to realize the need for the philosophy now shared by him and Matt Foster, the assistant director who will succeed Shible.

About 15 years ago, Shible shifted the focus of the department to activities that were fun and good exercise as a means to help sedentary youth and address subsequent obesity issues.

“I wanted to embrace what was healthy not just trendy,” he said.

The Recreation Committee agreed with the change.

The shift moved away from travel sports and cut sports where players tried out for a position on the team and were cut based on their ability and experience.

Shible had an epiphany to help by offering activities that reached more people and provided opportunities where players were not overshadowed by anyone else, he said.

“Everyone plays, everyone sits,” he said.

Some parents objected which led to the formation of the Farmington Area Travel Sports Organization in 2000, he said. The department helped that happen but leaves it in the parents’ hands.

Foster has come to embrace and understand the priority. “We think alike. It is the core of what we do,” Shible said.

“It has been a seamless transition,” he said of his move into retirement and Foster moving in to his seat.

There have been a lot of changes and improvements over the years along with challenges to overcome.

The building was in disrepair when he started. Each year, he has tried to budget improvements to preserve it.  Hippach Field did not look like it does now, he said of the hands-on work done by him and seasonal staff over the years. 

One soft spot for Shible was the effort to create the Dragon’s Nest, a skateboard park on Prescott Street. It was ahead of it’s time, he said. It did not survive but we attempted to do something for a group who were not into other sports, he added.

Basketball tournaments, volleyball, pickleball, and skating rinks have all required a commitment for nights and weekends that has infringed on time with his family. Shible hopes to make amends during retirement, he said.

Shible graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with a degree in Psychology in 1975.  In 1977, he took a position with Western Maine Community Action’s Tri-County Family Planning where he supervised a staff for over two years, he said. Then the position for Farmington Recreation opened.  

As Director, he takes on the role of a favorite uncle to many children.  

“I’m not their parent nor their teacher,” he said 

But, it makes him smile when he sees children who grew up in the department’s programs come back with their own children.

When his daughter, Jamie Beth, died in 1997, the Selectmen, town manager and so many people showed so much love and caring. Shible realized it was a community not just a town, he said.

“I’ve always loved Farmington,” he said of plans to stay here.

One thing he will not miss, though, is the politics, he said.  The budget season, from October till the department’s article at town meeting passes, is a time of high stress.

As a department that people want yet don’t want when it comes time for taxes, the budget can make him and the department a target for criticism.

But for now, he’s just looking forward to having time off this summer.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net

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