Meet Angela Snell

Name and title: Angela Snell, Director of .

Facebook or Twitter: “There is a big following from Shrewsbury, England.”

Like to read: Trade magazines

Words to live by: “To love what you do and feel that it matters; how could anything be more fun?”

Day or night person: “Night…definitely.”

Reside: “I live in Shrewsbury with my husband, Jerry, and two daughters. Ariana is 8 and Annika is 4.”

Like most about this job: “Something different will happen each day in this job. I like working with the sports groups in this town.”

Angela Snell has worked for the town for the past 10 years. In her position, she is responsible for overseeing the parks facilities in town, the school athletic fields, cemeteries and recreation programs. She does, in fact, wear many different hats.

“I have learned to expect the unexpected. You never know what issues are going to come up, whether there was a big flood the night before from a heavy rain and you have a big baseball game scheduled,” Snell said.

Her background was originally in physical education and coaching. Her first job out of college was as a physical education teacher while also working in Paxton recreation. Thanks to that job, she loved of working with the community and doing different events.

“I headed towards the recreation track from there. As I progressed in that, I wanted to be involved with the facilities. So, when I came here, I got to do the recreation and the parks, scheduling all of the facilities, managing the Donohoe Rowing Center, Mountain View Cemetery, sports teams and more,” said Snell.

In the cemetery side of business, Angela works with the funeral directors to schedule the burials, meets with families up at the cemetery to sell them a cemetery plot.

Because her job is so varied and has so many different responsibilities, there is always something different going on. She also tries to support community events that go on in the town.

With this job, there are some things that Snell finds challenging.  Maintaining the parks and infrastructures can get pretty expensive and she does her best to meet the demands of the different groups and residents.

“Our crew also works in the winter. So, if there is a burial, we have to make sure the snow is removed at Mountain View Cemetery to insure that this can happen,” said Snell.

Although her day is supposed to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 4:30p.m., there are many nights that Angela stays for meetings and she also attends weekend events to ensure that all is running smoothly. There are five full-time employees that also work for the Park and Recreation Department, and Angela cannot say enough words of praise for all that they do.

“I have a terrific support staff that easily goes with the flow and can handle a change of plans easily. All that I do really could not be done without them,” said Snell.

One of the events that Angela personally enjoys each year is being involved with the Memorial Day Parade. She gets to work with some of the town’s veterans to help plan the event.

She also works with contractors that help with different things. So, she is in charge of writing bids specifications and working with the contractors that do some of the town’s maintenance and projects. Her day is filled with many phone calls, emails, rescheduling and trouble- shooting.

“We are a small department for all that we do,” said Snell.