Ross Gallabrese RECREATION UPDATE — Don Patterson, Steubenville's parks and recreation director, speaker with members of the Steubenville Kiwanis Club during Tuesday's meeting.

STEUBENVILLE — The bad news about the state of the city’s recreation department is that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.

The good news is that it’s all fixable.

That’s the message Don Patterson, the city’s newly hired parks and recreation director, brought to members of the Steubenville Kiwanis Club Tuesday.

Patterson has been on the job for just a matter of weeks, having replaced Lori Fetherolf earlier this spring.

The Cleveland native and graduate of Shaw High School in East Cleveland came to Steubenville after serving in a similar post in Barberton.

“When I finished college, I worked in Europe and played a little football there,” he said while speaking at the Sycamore Youth Center. “I came back and it was time for reality to kick in. I actually started in the Massillon parks and recreation department, and I worked at the YMCA, too.

“It kind of worked together — I’ve worked in every position in the parks and recreation world, from the front desk to building manager, to running rec leagues, those types of things,” he added.

His career also took him to Canton, where he ended up working as a wrestling coach at one of the middle schools and as an assistant football coach at Canton McKinley High School. He served as recreation supervisor in Canton for seven years, running youth soccer, youth softball, bocce courts and shuffleboard.

Patterson said he coordinated a youth flag football program run through the Pro Football Hall of Fame and directed a Junior Cavaliers basketball program.

Once he arrived in Barberton, he said he added a disc golf course, 16 pickleball courts, a skate park and other projects, including new restrooms and surveillance systems.

“We put timers on the restroom doors. That’s one thing I’m learning we need here for restrooms,” he said while referring to the ongoing problem with vandalism at park restrooms.

By using timers on the locks, you can help the maintenance workers and members of the city police department who would have to go to each of the public restrooms and lock them manually every night and unlock them every morning.

Other changes are needed in the department, Patterson added.

“We had a meeting with a software company. We have to get everything online,” he explained. “Our reservations, our games, our fields, things like that. We need to get our website together — right now it’s just a page. You can’t click on anything or go anywhere.”

For now, Patterson said, getting the swimming pool at Belleview Park open is his No. 1 project. The reason the pool remains closed is simple: There aren’t enough lifeguards.

“Lifeguards are an issue,” he said. “I’m very proactive. I like to plan in advance. What I’m doing now should have been done in February or March. Unfortunately, I am doing it now.”

He added he had a meeting with the swimming coach at Steubenville High School to work on a plan to recruit more lifeguards.

“We have two lifeguards who have actually gone through the process,” Patterson said. “I need 10 to actually have the pool up and functioning on the normal hours. We might open at some capacity once I get four or five — we’ll shorten the hours. But the goal was to open Monday, which didn’t happen.

“Realistically, we are looking more like the first week in July,” he added.

Another area of concern is the condition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center.

“I walked into there unannounced on a Saturday, and what I saw was kind of crazy — I’ll leave that there, but we want to get things fixed,” Patterson explained. “When you come to the parks and recreation department, it should be the best looking and well-maintained area in the city, and it is not.”

The roof at the center is another concern.

“There are three roofs on that building, and a couple of years ago only one of them was replaced, and now the other two are starting to fail,” Patterson said. “That’s the stuff that should be addressed. Your infrastructure is the backbone of your building — your roof, your plumbing, your HVAC system and stuff that needs to be kept up.”

He said that he sees his background — which includes having a daughter who played college softball and a son who played football, as well as his own experience as a parent, teacher and coach, helps him with his job. That includes building programs for the community — and maintenance programs.

“What I’m seeing here is just yearly maintenance,” Patterson said. “You have got to keep things up. Don’t wait until it’s totally down and failed, but just keep things up and then you won’t have a big problem and it’s easier to repair things. I’ve been in places where people just let stuff go into the ground, and something that could have cost $1,000 a year now costs $80,000 to fix or replace.”

Patterson plans to go after grants and rely on support from the community to supplement the city’s recreation budget.

“I’m used to things being a little different,” he said. “I walk into my department and we’re still taking reservations in a book and on paper and giving people keys and deposits and all of that stuff. We’re trying to get everything up to date. I’m just trying to put all of the pieces together and finding out who’s using what field and if you are paying or paying. It’s a lot right now. I’m just trying to get things up to date. We’re operating like it’s 2000 and it’s 2026.”

Overall, Patterson said he likes the community, adding residents have a strong passion.

“The thing I like about parks and recreation is that you affect the whole community instead of just the students in your school,” he said.