Durango Parks and Recreation Director Ture Nycum is resigning from the city exactly two years after he was hired on Aug. 11. He accepted a job as executive director with Mountain Recreation, a recreation district in Eagle County, to be closer to his family.

José Madrigal, city manager, said Nycum brought a strong presence and experience to the city’s efforts to culturally and internally redefine the Parks and Recreation Department.

He said Nycum brought good ideas and thoughts to the city’s internal executive leadership team, which consists of department directors who meet monthly to discuss new city programs, employees, workforce engagement and customer service.

Nycum’s work in navigating the Durango Mesa Park project; overseeing the completion of the 32nd Street pedestrian bridge, a $2.7 million project that fully connected nine miles of Animas River Trail last year; and finding a home for pickleball courts at Schneider Park are some of the park director’s feats and accomplishments over the past two years, he said.

Nycum said it is a four-hour drive between Durango and Fruita where his wife, daughter and other family members live. The original plan when he accepted the job was that the family would move to the area later, but that hasn’t panned out.

Taking a job with Mountain Recreation gives him the opportunity to shave two hours off his travel time to visit his family, he said.

He said he is proud of everything the city accomplished during his tenure, including “tremendous changes” the city and staff had to traverse together, including the hiring of numerous directors.

Nycum said he’s glad to have been with the city as it has reached the cusp of completion on some projects, such as Durango Mesa Park, which has mountain bike trails under construction that are scheduled to open this fall and more construction plans for 2024.

“The Durango area will be, you know, about 6 miles of new trails that are going to be opened up which connect Horse Gulch to the Durango Mesa Park, and that's going to be really cool,” he said. “I think these trails are something new and different and I think the community will really like them.”

The SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab spearheaded by Charlie Love, science teacher at Riverview Elementary School, is another project Nycum said he is particularly proud of his involvement in.

The project, which aimed to replace the city’s Ohana Kuleana Community Garden after its closure, was among the first things to come across Nycum’s desk, he said.

“What really made it special is just building the relationship with 9-R (Durango School District) and Charlie Love. … Building that relationship and helping him just develop his vision, and it just fit in so perfectly with what we were trying to do with finding a place for Ohana Kuleana in a community garden. It just worked out great. It was just a great partnership.”

A lot of Nycum’s focus has been on capital improvement projects, specifically funding more maintenance and care for existing Parks and Recreation facilities, he said. Projects have included installing new plaster at the Durango Recreation Center swimming pool and studies about what is needed to upgrade irrigation systems at Greenmount Cemetery.

Nycum’s next job with Mountain Recreation will have him more involved in recreation, with him providing recreation services for the communities of Edwards, Eagle and Gypsum, he said.

He said he loves recreational and parks work because he can have an active part in shaping the places and spaces where people congregate and recreate. He enjoys providing people with a “happier, healthier life” and meeting people from different walks of life at special events and on the sidelines at sports games.

“You're helping the community grow to be socially, physically and mentally healthy. That's why I do what I do,” he said.

Scott McClain, assistant parks director, will serve as the interim director until a replacement for Nycum is hired starting Aug. 14, he said.

The city posted a Parks and Recreation director job description about a week ago on job search websites such as ZipRecruiter.

The job description says the city is offering a salary between $135,000 and $150,000.

Nycum said a successful successor will rely on current city staff and getting to know other department directors involved in the city’s leadership team.

He said Durango is a “great, vibrant, very involved community,” and he has enjoyed his time in the city.

“It is bittersweet that I'm moving,” he said. “I felt like we were starting to get into a good groove with some of the things that we’re working on and (responding) to the community, but at the same time, just being closer to my family and the opportunity of Mountain Rec just outweighed the ability to stay in Durango.”

cburney@durangoherald.com