AMHERST — Community events that mark Independence Day, Halloween and the winter season, a premiere summer camp for those who play Ultimate, and after-school childcare for elementary school students are among the Leisure Services and Supplemental Education programs that serve more than 50,000 participants and attendees annually.
For the past quarter century, these have been overseen by LSSE Director Linda Chalfant, who on Friday announced that she will retire in March.
“It’s been such a joy to be in Amherst, where there’s a sense of openness and a value of the many different ways of participation and coming together,” Chalfant said.
The community, she said, supports a variety of recreation programs, whether it be for a young child learning to play a sport or an adult figuring out how to use art as a form of expression. She also credits talented staff and passionate advocates on the appointed LSSE Commission for any success her department has had.
Chalfant, who began her tenure in July 1987 as program coordinator for LSSE, said she feels fortunate she has been part of the town for so long.
“The last 30 years have been great and we’ve accomplished so much, but there’s still so much more to do,” said Chalfant, 63.
“Linda has devoted her career to enriching the lives of Amherst’s residents, especially our young people,” said Town Manager Paul Bockelman “Her commitment to the community is unquestioned and she has built LSSE to what it is today.”
But Bockelman said Chalfant is often too modest about her success in running the more than 250 youth programs and 100 adult programs. “Her legacy will be much larger and more impactful than she realizes,” Bockelman said.
To handle her retirement, Bockelman is naming Assistant Town Manger David Ziomek to an interim role in overseeing the LSSE department.
Ziomek said he will work alongside Chalfant and staff and members of the appointed commission to ensure a smooth transition and transfer of institutional memory.
Chalfant, Ziomek said, has had a stellar career.
“Programs Linda has created have touched the lives of thousands and thousands of people,” Ziomek said.
That search for Chalfant’s successor will begin immediately. Bockelman said he hopes to have a new director in place by the time Town Meeting begins this spring.
In a letter to Bockelman, Chalfant wrote, “It has been an honor and a privilege working on behalf of the Amherst community.”
Chalfant grew up in northern West Virginia, near the state borders with Pennsylvania and Ohio, arriving in Amherst from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where she developed part time staff and oversaw a special event called “Tall Timber Days Festival” that included a chainsaw carving competition, log rolling and a float built by children.
In addition to the programming for youth and adults, Chalfant has overseen programs such as Community Theater, the Fourth of July celebrations near the University of Massachusetts athletic fields and the upcoming Winterfest at Cherry Hill Golf Course.
Chalfant’s final day will be March 24, about six weeks after David Grubb begins his tenure as youth and adult sports program director Feb. 13
Grubb, an Athol native who held similar positions in both Burlington and Billerica, was recently hired to fill that vacant position.
