T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Outgoing Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Director Geoff Hubbard, who has accepted the same position in Johnston, poses for a photo next to the volleyball nets at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Shortly after he started on the job in 2019, Hubbard helped to lead a successful $1.35 million fundraising effort to restore the Coliseum after it was severely damaged during the EF-3 tornado on July 19, 2018.

When Geoff Hubbard graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1989 and headed off to Iowa State University, he joked that he had no intention of ever coming back. He ended up even further away when he moved to the desert and worked toward a graduate degree at Arizona State University, then assuming he’d never return to Iowa.

Life ultimately had other plans, and after Hubbard and his wife Catherine, a Zearing native, had their first son, they concluded that it would probably make sense to migrate back to their home state.

“All of our family is in central Iowa. We don’t have anybody to help raise this kid. Everybody we knew was college age kids who didn’t want to adult like we had to, so that’s when I decided, you know what, I’ll move back to Iowa so we can be closer to our family as long as I can find a job in recreation,” he said.

He thought it might take a year or two to land such a position, but within a few months — by March of 1999, to be exact — he’d already been hired in Sioux City. After a decade as the recreation superintendent there and another decade in a similar position with the city of Council Bluffs, Hubbard decided to come home and take on the role of Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Director early in 2019.

Almost six years later, he has announced his intention to take the director position in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston, primarily to be closer to his two adult sons (one lives in Johnston, the other in Omaha) and his wife’s job as the human resources director for the Harlan Community School District. It’s a bittersweet moment for a hometown boy who played such a pivotal role in rebuilding the community’s parks post tornado/derecho and taking on major projects like the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the expansion of Marshalltown’s trails and the yet-to-be-constructed Water Plaza in Mega-10 Park, but Hubbard is walking away confident that he left things better than he found them.

“It was the right decision for me to come (and) take this job just to be closer to my family but also just (because of) the fun projects that we have going on and have been going on for the last six years,” he said. “I’m really excited about the Linn Creek Districts that are gonna be happening in my absence, but we’ll be back often to check on the progress of those. I think those will be some great quality of life amenities that are added.”

Coming home

After 20 years in the field, Hubbard knew he wanted to be a director somewhere. At first, he applied for the position in Council Bluffs, where he was already working, but a candidate from Oregon was hired instead. They worked together for about four or five months but had different philosophies and approaches on how things should be run, so when he found out through the Iowa Parks and Rec Association’s newsletter that the Marshalltown job was available, Hubbard began to seriously consider it.

“I’m like ‘Marshalltown? Hmm. That sounds right up my alley.’ And I did some more research, and I was coming (back) quarterly or whatever, holidays, to see my family anyways, and so I knew that the Coliseum project was starting and that it got hit by the tornado,” he said. “So it was like ‘Huh, this could be very interesting to kind of help rebuild the town that you grew up in.”

As it turned out, Hubbard was actually driving to Marshalltown to hear his brother-in-law’s band, the popular local cover act Exit 185, play at Elmwood Country Club on the day the tornado hit, and he heard about it on the radio before his family members, who lived on the south side of town away from the affected area, even knew what had transpired. He jumped in on the cleanup efforts, and about six months later, he started as the parks and recreation director.

Almost immediately afterward, Hubbard assembled a committee with Vic Hellberg and Steve Storjohann to lead the fundraising efforts for the Coliseum — the goal was $1.35 million. Initially, he was skeptical that such a lofty number could be reached, but through grants, private donations and a benefit concert with Jason Brown, it was done within a year.

With the tornado, the derecho and the pandemic all hitting Marshalltown within a two-year period, the only word that comes to mind when Hubbard thinks about the community is resiliency.

“After the derecho, Geoff was there and ready to go. He didn’t carry any baggage from the tornado, but I think he also said he felt like he was the outsider on a shared experience,” said former City Administrator Jessica Kinser, who now holds the same position in Faribault, Minn. “He was always present for his employees and coached them on how to do better. He jumped right into the coliseum fundraising and took that project on in a way that was very impressive. He leaves behind a lot of positive projects in Marshalltown!”

While he could’ve easily decided to wallow in negativity and hopelessness, he instead opted to aggressively improve and rebuild parks like Elks, Peterson, Kiwanis while guiding the soon-to-commence upgrades at Riverview and the aforementioned Linn Creek District and trail projects.

“I never would’ve thought that all that would be happening from this job. I thought it was, like, do a park every year and not all these bigger projects, so it’s been cool to be a part of that,” he said. “And it’s fun that Jessica and other people have entrusted me to make sure those projects are happening.”

Along with Kinser, Hubbard credited Public Works Director Heather Thomas for her assistance on the Linn Creek projects as well as Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall and Arts+Culture Alliance Executive Director Amber Danielson for leading the fundraising efforts. The departing director is also confident that new City Administrator Carol Webb will be brought up to speed in no time.

“There’s a lot of champions for all of these projects to make sure that they get done, and I also think that all of them are at the 90 percent or better stage,” he said.

As an example, he noted that the Riverview improvements, which have been covered in several previous stories in the T-R, have already received city council approval with a contract awarded to Con-Struct.

Passing the torch

According to Webb, the search for Hubbard’s replacement is already underway, and whoever walks into the position will most certainly be busy. On Oct. 28, the council is expected to put out the Linn Creek projects for bid with plans to award the contract by the Nov. 25 meeting.

By then, Hubbard will be learning the ins and outs of his new position in Johnston (pop. 24,390 and growing), a community he was drawn to not only for its location and proximity to his son but also for the amenities it offers and exciting projects in the works like the renovation of a community building and the potential construction of an indoor soccer complex and an outdoor soccer area.

“Everything else is just city parks. You know, replacing playground equipment like we are here. So a lot of it’s more, it’s not necessarily the job, it’s the proximity to all the other things that I enjoy doing after my job,” Hubbard said.

Another major selling point, he joked, is that Johnston doesn’t have a swimming pool, so he won’t have to deal with the headaches of staffing and operating one any longer. Hubbard plans to attend one last Marshalltown city council meeting on Oct. 14 before starting his new job the following day, but he’ll be back frequently to visit family and check on the progress of the myriad projects he played a part in spearheading.

And when asked what he’ll remember the most about his tenure here, Hubbard had a simple answer.

“Definitely the people I’ve met and worked with. All the Parks and Rec staff have been great. I tell my staff that it’s kind of funny. In all my other communities (where I’ve worked), we’d get phone calls once or twice or three times a week about something — garbage in the park or this piece of equipment being broken or whatever it is. And there seemed to be complaints all the time,” he said. “There always seemed to be drama. And here, besides the Glenwood Pond and the Timber Creek Bridge, those are probably the two biggest calls I got. ‘When’s the Timber Creek Bridge gonna get replaced?’ and now it’s been ‘When is Glenwood Pond gonna get unfull of algae?’ And I don’t even oversee that.”

Recreation Supervisor Jennifer Hart commended her boss for having a positive attitude in the office and a great sense of humor.

“He was a great leader and I learned a lot from him. I wish him luck on the new adventure,” she said.

Parks and Rec Office Manager Becky Baedke has worked with three directors, and she was impressed with Hubbard’s built-in knowledge of the community through his personal connection to Marshalltown along with his “can-do attitude” and willingness to get things done.

“I will miss Geoff’s infectious energy, calmness during anxious moments, hearing of his weekend ISU tailgating, poker and golf antics! I’ve felt envious hearing all the fun Geoff packs into his free time, and I strive to attain more of that when I retire in January,” Baedke said.

Hubbard has nothing but compliments for his colleagues and fellow department heads, but the city is currently undergoing something of a changing of the guard with Police Chief Mike Tupper’s impending retirement, Fire Chief David Rierson’s retirement, Housing and Community Development Director Michelle Spohnheimer’s departure and Library Director Sarah Rosenblum’s retirement also looming at some point in the relatively near future.

“That was another thing where all the people I started out working with are now kind of leaving too. So it might be a good time to at least check it out. I really wasn’t looking for a job. It just happened to pop up in one of my Iowa Parks and Rec newsletters,” Hubbard said. “I just did some research on it, and my son lives there. He and I can go play golf next summer and go for bike rides and all that stuff.”

And as much as he’ll miss the people he worked with, the feeling is mutual. Several tributes poured in after news of Hubbard’s departure became public.

“Geoff Hubbard has been a joy to be around and work with. He always has a smile and he attacks every challenge with a tremendously positive attitude. Geoff has done a great job leading his department. He has worked on a lot of important projects and multiple large projects on behalf of the city,” Tupper said. “Geoff has had a lot on his plate dealing with natural disaster clean-up and park restoration. Geoff has also taken on new projects that have benefited the city tremendously. Geoff has always been willing to step in and help out. He is the consummate team player. I am going to miss him. Geoff made Marshalltown a better place.”

Mayor Joel Greer is sad to lose him but offered his wholehearted support of the decision to move on to a new opportunity.

“Geoff Hubbard has been a delight to have at the helm of Parks and Rec. Not only did he return to his hometown with great experience, he absolutely improved the parks and programming for its citizens. One by one, the parks were significantly improved. He embraced the recreational trails projects and helped on getting grants to finish them. And we will certainly miss his sense of humor,” Greer said. “He could not pass up a better opportunity with a growing city, closer to family members. Nobody who knew and liked him like I have would even think about persuading him to stay. No doubt the volunteer P&R advisory committee members will miss him, as will the staff and students he worked with. But he is leaving the department in a better place than where it was when he found it. We have had a long history of having good P&R directors, so my hope and expectation will be that the job will be attractive to another good replacement. Meanwhile, we wish Geoff well and thank him for his professional service here.”