Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – After nearly 47 years working for the City of Santa Maria, longtime Recreation and Parks Director Alex Posada is retiring this week.
Posada, who started working for Santa Maria in 1979, is the longest serving employee in the 120-year history of the city.
This Friday will mark the end of a remarkable and impactful tenure that started when the city had just over 40,000 people and has grown over the nearly five decades since to a place that now has a population of over 100,000.
“I’ve been gearing up for it,” said Posada. “We’re trying to get all my ducks in a row here at the office, handing off projects. That tarted that a couple of months back with the leadership team here at the department, and family wise, same thing, trying to get things done so that when tomorrow does come, I’m ready. I think it’s been a great career here and I’ve enjoyed every single day coming to work. I can’t think of a day that I didn’t enjoy coming to work.”
Posada actually started working for the city briefly as a Recreation Activity Specialist in 1977.
After leaving that position, he returned two years later in May 1979 as full-time as a Recreation Activity Specialist in May 1979 and has been with Santa Maria ever since.
“I remember the day that I walked into the Minami Community Center before our grand opening,” said Posada. “That was my first charge was to organize the grand opening for the Minami Center. It was just a great facility to kind of kick off the future of Santa Maria, and I kind of look at that as is it was the first major facility that the city built, and now you look around the city and we have a facility in almost every section of town which helps meet the needs of the community.”
He was moved up to Recreation Supervisor in April 1981 and later promoted to Recreation and Parks Director in 1993, a position he has held for 32 years.
“We’ve been able to ask the community what it is they want to see in recreation and then with the assistance of the council and the community, we have been able to deliver on those things,” said Posada. “It’s really listening to what the community is telling us that they want. I think that’s what I’m most proud of, that we’ve been able to do that and we’ve gotten the support to do it. I’m happy and proud of the partnerships that we have with the community.”
In late 2023, he was appointed as interim city manager, a position he held for one year until current city manager David Rowlands was hired in late 2024.
“Filling in for the city manager was something that I didn’t expect to do before I retired,” said Posada. “I believe in the letter that I wrote to the council, I said that it would be a huge culmination to a career of over 40 years, and when I look at it, getting to work with not just the people in my department, but getting to work with the people across the city and getting to understand what each of their needs were, that was enlightening for me.”
Through the years, Posada has left an enduring imprint on city, helping build many of the popular recreational facilities that residents and visitors now enjoy on a daily basis.
According to the city, since he started in 1979, the number of parks has grown from nine to 33 and the number of recreation facilities has grown from two to ten.
Some of the facilities he has helped create are the Atkinson Community Center, and Simas Park Building to 10 including Grogan Community Center, Maramonte Community Center, Veterans’ Memorial Center, Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center, Edwards Community Center, Elwin Mussell Senior Center, Hagerman Softball Complex, Minami Community Center, soon the Japanese Community Center and Smith-Enos House.
Other notable achievements include helping create People for Leisure and Youth (PLAY) in 1997, a non-profit organization has raised more than $5 million to aid in funding innovative recreation and parks services and programs offered in the Santa Maria Valley.
“That was a group that was created out of necessity, back when the city was going through some budget struggles,” said Posada. “It was their role to go out and solicit that community support. Over the years, that the the board has worked hard and has been a really successful securing grants that maybe wouldn’t normally come to a city, but they were able to help be the fiduciary for those kind of grants coming to the city programs, free swim days at Paul Nelson in the summertime sponsored by PLAY, leadership training for our staff sponsored by PLAY, our Christmas events. Those kinds of things have all been underwritten by PLAY.”
He also played an instrumental role in helping Santa Maria earn the prestigious “All-America City” designation that was granted by the National Civic League in Mobile, Alabama in 1998.
“We had a mayor at the time named Abel Maldonado and Abel was a catalyst for many, many things to happen in the community back in that time frame in 1998,” said Posada. “One of the things that he felt was Santa Maria deserved recognition for the community that it was, so the decision was made that we would apply for the All-America City Award. I was not necessarily in charge of it, but our department certainly keyed it up. I would say that it was Teresa Rayburn and a group of individuals from City Hall that actually did the work. We were able to take on a national basis go to Mobile, Alabama, and tell the people what Santa Maria had accomplished over the years, and becoming an engaging and inclusive and respectful community. It’s not typical for a city to win on its first time, but we did.”
Posada has also been a key advocate for the Special Olympics, not only in Santa Maria, but also Santa Barbara County and beyond.
“When I became engaged in Special Olympics, it was pretty much a one-day event that happened at Hancock College,” said Posada. “We maybe had 90 to 100 individuals with intellectual disabilities come out and participate. As the time went on, I said this could be a lot more. The Special Olympics organization at that time wanted to grow and we ended up being more engaged in the program. We had a year round program. We had a program that allowed youth and adults with disabilities a venue to participate in sports, just like anybody else, and not just participate in the sports, but also participate in the training component of that getting better wellness and better health and fitness. We’re in the rebuilding process right now (after Covid). I continue to serve on the Board of Directors for, Special Olympics Southern California and that’s one of our major goals, is to get our athletes re-engaged in the community.”
Other accomplishments included assisting the city purchase 1,778 acres of land near the top of the Solomon Grade that has since become the home to Los Flores Ranch Park, leading the transfer of the historic Smith-Enos House that was gifted to Santa Maria by the Enos Ranch developer around 2016 that will become part of a new park with the future Japanese Community Center, leading the creation of Machado Plaza near Chapel Street that opened in 2022, and spearheading the drive towards the construction of the future Santa Maria Sports Complex that will open in fall/winter 2026.
In addition to his duties with the city, Posada has also given his time, energy and devotion to several local clubs, charities and non-profit organizations.
“He leads with a service heart and has created so much that this city is all the better for his service,” said Santa Maria Recreation Services Manager Dennis Smitherman, who has just been named interim Recreation and Parks Director. “What he has been able to accomplish has changed the footprint and culture of Santa Maria and it has just made it a better place to live. Alex has one of the biggest hearts for our community. He really supports everybody and wants everyone to participate, and get outside and enjoy the services that the department offers, and really just be healthy and respect each other in the community.”
On Tuesday, the Santa Maria City Council officially recognized Posada with a resolution that honored his “outstanding leadership, dedication, and contributions to the community, and congratulating him on his well-deserved retirement.”
A longtime Santa Maria resident, Posada, along with his wife Julie, has no intentions of leaving the city as he enters retirement and said he will remain active in the community.
“We’re staying put,” said Posada. “I’m going to continue to be engaged in my Kiwanis group and with Special Olympics, and I’ll continue on the board for PLAY. We’ll be here. We’ll be traveling a little bit here and there, but for the most part, we’ll be around.”
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