Award-winning parks & rec manager striving to make city, his kids proud

For five years, Maricopa Recreation Manager Rocky Brown has expanded the classes and programs the city offers to the community.

It has not gone unnoticed. In August, he received an Employee Excellence Award from the city. Then he received two statewide awards: the Emerging Leader Award from the Gabe Zimmerman Public Service Awards and the Young Professional Award from the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association.

Brown calls the Zimmerman award “one of the most humbling experiences of my life.”

He drew notice for establishing the city’s Youth Council, the largest in the state, and award-winning Maricopa in Motion Mobile Recreation.

“The opportunity to create programs and activities from scratch was something that I thought was a great opportunity,” Brown says. “Just to be able to come out here and be creative and open new facilities made me feel like a pioneer.”

A young pioneer at that. Brown is 33 years old. He and his wife Tiffany have four children, so they know a bit about youth activities.

Like many city officials before him, Brown came to the city of Maricopa from Mesa. A long journey from Grand Island, Nebraska, first brought him to the Grand Canyon State.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s degree from Northern Arizona University, Brown worked in the car business with his father. Despite the success and wealth he found, he felt the need to do more; he felt a calling to make a difference in his community.

“My father-in-law was a firefighter for the city of Mesa for 40 years, and I thought serving the community you live in was the most honorable job you could have,” Brown says. “He was my mentor in government and got me interested in community service. He actually pushed me out of being a fireman because it’s hard to be a fireman and go to church every Sunday, so parks and recreation was more of a natural fit for what I want to do. I want to do something that my kids will be proud of one day.”
[quote_box_right]“I want to do something that my kids will be proud of one day.” – Rocky Brown[/quote_box_right]
While working for the Mesa Parks and Recreation Department, Brown’s job typically consisted of maintaining the infrastructure built over the last 50 years. When an opportunity to come to Maricopa arose, Brown jumped at the chance to build something from the ground up.

From his first day in the Community Services Department as the youth coordinator, the staff around him knew he was going to be special for the city.

“He’s an incredible individual,” management analyst Brenda Campbell says. “From the day he started he has been a great relief to me. I’ve watched him grow over the last five years. At a young age he has made a huge impact on the community.”

The 2014 opening of Copper Sky Mutigenerational Complex created countless possibilities for the city to add programs and activities. Once Brown was promoted to recreation manager that year, this became his mission.

“He’s a great guy to work for,” Recreation Coordinator Heather Lozano says. “He helps all of us strive to be better and achieve more. He’s a great boss, and he doesn’t hold us back from trying new things and bringing in new programs.”

On a daily basis, Brown oversees all the programs and memberships taking place at Copper Sky. He and the nine members of the staff who report to him try to come up with ways to engage the community.

“He is the definition of a team player,” says his boss, Community Services Director Kristie Riester. “He loves what he does, and work never seems like work for him. He does whatever it takes to get the job done, and his love for the community always comes through.”

Brown and his staff at Copper Sky continue to build their membership base and increase the programs offered.

“I want us to keep helping people meet their goals and improve their lives,” Brown says. “We’re always thinking of creative things to try and new things to do. We’d love to have a rock wall, increase our equipment upstairs and offer more programs and classes, but we know money is an object so we want to focus on making sure we are offering the best classes we can and making sure people feel like they’re in a safe environment.

“Copper Sky isn’t just a city building, it’s the central gathering point for the community,” Brown says. “We want to make sure we stay ahead of the curve.”

This story appeared in the Winter Edition of InMaricopa The Magazine.