City of Tea welcomes new staff New park & rec director, Jake Kerr, brings experience

Tea’s new park & rec director brings nearly nine years of experience to the position. Jake Kerr started with the city in December, but he spent almost nine years in a similar position in Sheldon, Iowa.

“It was more rec emphasis, but I did help out at the parks. It’s a small town just like this. You have to help out where you can,” he said. “That’s what I plan on doing here as well as adding some programs to the community.”

Growing up in Brandon, he did a lot of umping, field maintenance and supervising rec programs in high school. The experience he gained in Sheldon has helped him prepare for his position in Tea.

“It’s helped a lot. In Sheldon, it’s a community where we didn’t have a lot of help. We did a lot on our own for rec programs. I had the experience and I felt ready for this type of position in a growing community like Tea,” he said.

So far, Kerr has attended park & rec board meetings where he makes the agenda, takes minutes and provides any information the board asks for. As he learns more about the city’s programs, he has also been asking a lot of questions.

Right now, the city does not have any programs going on, but they do have signups open for spring soccer, volleyball skills camp and adult pickleball league. With a growing interest around the country in pickleball, the city is offering an indoor league at the Venture gym.

“It’s growing very much in popularity. We’ve heard a lot of interest in that too from the community. It’s one of the fastest growing sports,” Kerr said.

After spring signups are done, they will move into the summer signups for softball, baseball, t-ball and the summer rec program. For the fall season, they are planning on flag football, fall soccer and an adult volleyball league. While he does not have any specific goals, Kerr does want to add some activities to the community while dealing with the challenges every community has.

“There’s obviously some challenges with every community in the rec department and that’s space, especially growing communities like this one at this pace. Space, whether it’s baseball fields or soccer fields, gyms available that’s typically a rec problem wherever you go but can be more difficult with growing communities. We’re trying to navigate those the best we can,” Kerr said.