For a quarter century, Cathy Metz oversaw creation of the largest recreational amenities in Durango’s history – the Community Recreation Center, completion of the 8-mile Animas River Trail and the addition of user amenities at Lake Nighthorse.

On Friday, that tenure came to an end as the longtime parks and recreation director stepped out of her office and into retirement.

Metz joined the city in 1996 as director of parks and recreation, a title she kept the entire time. During that time, she has overseen the creation of more than $100 million in recreation amenities – almost all of which saw some opposition from passionate community members with competing desires. For the city, it means the end of a 25-year era.

For Metz, it means she turns from managing recreation amenities to enjoying them.

“You think about major milestones in your life, like when you graduate from college and going off on your own. It’s sort of like that,” Metz said. “ You’re excited about it, yet you’re terrified.”

Metz – cheery, soft-spoken with an encyclopedic knowledge of parks and recreation projects – said growing up in a military family and living around the world gave her a unique, broad perspective on her role in Durango.

During her 25-year tenure, the Parks and Recreation Department grew to have the largest staff and second-largest budget, $7.9 million, of all city departments. The police department’s budget is larger by about $7,600.

The city purchased thousands of acres of open space and expanded the trail system, which now offers more than 300 miles of trails within 30 minutes of town.

The city built the recreation center and expanded the Animas River Trail, which is now a mostly uninterrupted 8-mile trail from Dallabetta Park to Oxbow Park and Preserve. It added the ice rink to the Chapman Hill Ski Area.

In 2012, Durango’s Parks and Recreation Department won its first gold medal award for excellence – making it one of the top departments in the nation.

“The impact that Cathy has had on the city of Durango will be felt for generations,” said José Madrigal, Durango city manager. “When you look around Durango you can see her fingerprints on the outstanding recreational amenities and programs that have made Durango well-known, not only in Colorado, but nationally.”

When Metz first joined the city’s staff, the community was defining its vision for recreation. Her goal was to listen to the community, she said.

Durangoans wanted to see more recreation amenities close to town. Some formed Trails 2000, now known as Durango Trails, said Mary Monroe, spokeswoman for Durango Trails.

“Through Cathy’s management and seeing that vision, she was able to bring the city and the community together to make that vision happen at a larger level,” said Monroe, who has known Metz for 15 years. Durango Trails now manages the trails after the city acquires open space.

Metz said her crowning achievement with Durango was garnering community support for dedicated sales taxes that provided parks, recreation and open space funding.

“(That) would be the trigger that, I believe, changed the ability of our department to provide the high-quality services that we do today,” Metz said. “I knew for us to get to where the community wanted to go, we needed to work with the community to secure that funding.”

In 1999, the community passed a tax to build the recreation center and expand the Animas River Trail. In 2005, it passed another dedicated tax, then in 2015, residents renewed the 1999 tax.

“The level of community engagement over the last 25 years has been phenomenal,” Metz said. “I think that we have listened to the community over the years.”

She led the department’s first master plan in 2001, a public engagement-heavy process that has happened once per decade since.

Metz joined in the successful negotiations to create Lake Nighthorse south of the downtown – a complicated and contentious process that took decades to resolve and involved a variety of groups, including local, federal and tribal governments.

The city now manages recreation services at the lake, which acts as water storage for the region.

“When you think about, ‘how did the department grow to this level?’ It was really the dedicated funding that the voters have approved,” Metz said.

But Durangoans are also passionate, to say the least, about all sorts of outdoor recreation activities. Families know each other by the outdoors sport they and their children do.

“There wasn’t one project we advanced that didn’t receive some level of opposition,” Metz said.

Recreators have clashed over wake and no-wake zones on Lake Nighthorse. Tennis and pickleball players have struggled to share courts. And some residents split over recent development at Oxbow Park and Preserve, with some worrying a boat ramp and amenities would lead to over-recreation on the Animas.

Then, of course, the massive, proposed three-part bridge intended to help pedestrians cross the Animas River at 32nd Street (where there were already two pedestrian sidewalks on either side of a bridge). The community’s uproar prompted the city to change its design.

“All of those projects had a constituency that was very vocal and very interested in seeing their group’s vision for parks and rec come to fruition,” said former Mayor Doug Lyon. “I think she’s done an outstanding job in the last 25 years in balancing those well-meaning, and at times, competing interests.”

Sometimes, community members focused their frustrations on Metz, herself, rather than the issue at hand. Metz viewed the criticism as another sign of how much the community cares about recreation services the city provides.

With competing needs and divergent opinions to consider, Metz focused her efforts on doing the most good for the most people with the highest-quality services, she said.

“That has been our ability to gain so much support from the community, both financially and in their level of participation,” she said.

Metz spent her last week with the city wrapping up loose ends to help with the department’s leadership transition and working with staff members on operational items such as the 2022 budget. The goal was a seamless transition so community services will not be impacted.

“Everyone has been prepared for it,” Metz said.

Scott McClain, assistant parks director, will act as director in the interim until the city hires a new parks and recreation director. The city has already started interviewing candidates, Metz said. Durango City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss candidates for the position.

Metz decided “a long time ago” that she would retire at 65, she said. She’s looking forward to spending time with her husband and enjoying recreation in Durango.

The main thing she wanted the public to know was how humbled and honored she was to have served in the role. The No. 1 thing she’ll miss: working with staff, Metz said.

“It feels like a good time to retire for me personally and a good time to transition to that next generation of leadership,” Metz said. “I believe that the staff are fully capable of continuing to move us forward. And I hope I've mentored them in ways that they can continue to be successful.”

Some residents say she’s left a legacy, which Metz said was humbling and kind. But for her, it wasn’t about that.

“I’ve always worked for the community,” she said.

smullane@durangoherald.com