From Friends of Lake Maria State Park
It Never Hurts to Ask
Like the average person, I guess, I’m not very good at asking for assistance in most endeavors. However, when the Park Manager’s position opened up at Lake Maria State Park, it occurred to our friends group that if we could be involved in the next Manager’s vetting it would give us a good look at the process the DNR uses to select and interview candidates for the job. I contacted Paul Kurvers, the District 6 Manager for Parks and Trails, and asked if we could somehow join in the process of the Manager’s hiring.
To my pleasant surprise Paul responded positively. Not only could I participate in the Zoom interviews with the candidates, but I was allowed to ask each candidate one of the questions—one that involves the friends groups relationship with the potential manager. In addition, I was able to score each respondent’s answers and submit them to Paul, who built a spreadsheet of all the interviewers’ scores, so we could see how each candidate fared.
Although all of the people we interviewed were qualified, we agreed that one of them stood out as the best person to manage our park, and that person is Kenny Giannini, who will start his new job at Lake Maria in April. Kenny has most recently served as the Assistant Manager for Tettegouche Operations at Tettegouche, Temperance River and Crosby-Manitou State Parks. Covid willing, we’re anxious to meet him and keep up our good work at the park.