SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - After nearly 47 years working for the City of Santa Maria, long-time Recreation and Parks Director Alex Posada is retiring.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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