White River Junction
Hausler, a Wilder resident, in 2013 left his post as Claremont’s Parks & Recreation director after 16 years to become assistant director in Hartford under Tad Nunez. After so much budgetary and office work in Claremont, the move allowed Hausler to re-engage in the activities — and conversations — that first drew him to the profession.
Nunez, 61, retired at the end of last month after 29 years with the town.
“The biggest thing I learned over the last four years with Tad was just how important it is to be out on the ground,” said Hausler, 53. “Being out a lot in the community, talking to the people who are involved the programs that the department offers, it kind of gave me a different outlook. It sort of brought me back to the roots of what we do.”
That includes tending to more than 350 acres of parkland spread over 18 parks and facilities within Hartford’s five villages. It also means overseeing the dozens of youth and adult programs the town offers, from swimming lessons and summer camps to yoga and weekly wellness walks.
It all requires collaborating with the town’s Parks & Recreation Commission, public-school athletic departments and entities such as the town’s Tree Board and the Upper Valley Dog Park Committee.
Check, check and check for Hausler.
“A big part of the job is listening and forming relationships, and fortunately I think that’s going to be pretty simple,” said Hausler, who doubles as acting President of the Vermont Recreation and Parks Association. “I’ve already been working with a lot of these folks in various ways. I won’t have to be meeting all of the players for the first time right now.”
Hausler grew up in Wellsville, Kan., a city of less than 2,000 about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City. He earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation from Emporia (Kan.) State University in 1987.
“Growing up in a small town, you do a lot of things (through its recreation department) to stay busy,” said Hausler, a two-way football lineman at Wellsville High. “I felt like it was my calling to stay involved.”
Maybe so, but Hausler’s first vocation out of college was being a ski bum in Colorado, working in an equipment shop when he wasn’t on the mountain at Keystone Resort.
“I didn’t even really ski a lot growing up, but I had a friend there I could stay with,” Hausler recalled. “I wasn’t really using my degree, mostly just having fun.”
That changed a year later when Hausler, then 23, became recreation director in Kingman, Kan., near Wichita, and soon met his future wife, Pam Carey, on a cruise.
Hausler later uprooted and moved to Carey’s hometown of Randolph, Mass., putting his feelers out for work in New England. Four months after marrying, Scott was hired as the recreation director for the town of Sherburne, Vt. (now Killington) in 1991.
“It was kind of fitting because we had done a road trip to Vermont along Route 4 and stopped for lunch at (Maple Sugar and Vermont Spice) in Mendon, past Pico Mountain,” Hausler said. “I called my parents and told them I loved Vermont and how cool it would be to work in a place like that.”
After six years in Sherburne, Hausler became Parks & Recreation director in Claremont, helping to establish the city’s “Parks 2000” facilities improvements at the turn of the century. Hausler was charged with identifying areas of need and securing funding for the initiatives, which included new signage and playgrounds, among other enhancement projects.
“There were also tennis court issues and fencing issues, things like that, so it was a lot of working with people and then trying to (maximize) various sources of funding,” Hausler said. “That was probably the most collaboration I’d done with that many people at that point in my career, so it was valuable experience.”
Even more intensive efforts were required for Hausler to help work toward the construction of the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center, a state-of-the art recreation facility with an indoor pool and running track as well as numerous exercise and game rooms. It replaced the aging Goodwin Community Center in 2013.
“That was about a 10-year project and I think the end result is a great facility,” Hausler said. “It’s something Claremont can be proud of.”
Hartford has achieved its own milestone projects over the last decade, including construction of the Upper Valley Aquatic Center and the Maxfield Sports Complex, which features numerous athletic fields and amenities and is home to the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Upper Valley Nighthawks.
Hausler doens’t take the reins from Nunez with any grand vision for the future of the town — but, as always, he’s willing to listen.
“For me it’s mostly about maintaining all of the programs and activities that we have and focusing on quality-of-life type issues,” said Hausler, whose three children have all graduated from Hartford High, including the youngest, Kenna, last month. “It’s about how we can make Hartford a better place to live, work and recreate.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.