Position Summary

The Town of Palm Beach boasts a world-class, dynamic Recreation Department dedicated to creating high-quality community spaces and maintaining pristine public assets. The premier network includes the award-winning Town of Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course, the bustling Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center (featuring a state-of-the-art fitness center, athletic fieldhouse, café, and multi-purpose rooms), as well as pristine clay tennis courts, playground, and welcoming lawns of Seaview Park. The Town also offers an 84 slip superyacht marina. The department seeks a forward-thinking leader to anchor the team at Phipps Ocean Park after a historic $31 million renovation. Through a landmark partnership with the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, this 18-acre oceanfront jewel is undergoing transformation into a self-sustaining botanical oasis. The progressive overhaul features a 22-foot-high protective oceanfront dune system, two miles of scenic curving trails, playground, the oldest schoolhouse in Southeast Florida, and the installation of over 80,000 native plants cultivated to create an organic, chemically pesticide-free master ecosystem. The Park Crew Foreman is responsible for helping protect this major capital investment, leading municipal operations that keep this modern environmental landmark safe, spotless, and functional.

Under the direct supervision of the Golf Course Superintendent, performs specialized working supervisory functions and skilled work in the daily operation, maintenance, public safety, and contract coordination of Phipps Ocean Park. The Foreman acts as the primary on-site municipal point of contact for the Town, coordinating daily logistics and collaborating closely with the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach and the contracted landscape maintenance vendor to ensure the integrity of the park's native ecosystems and high-traffic amenities. Additionally, the Foreman serves as a key public ambassador, monitoring visitor behavior, addressing park rule violations, and proactively responding to operational or public concerns.

Key Responsibilities

• Supervision & Operations: Plans, assigns, schedules, and directs the daily activities of the assigned Park Attendants; inspects completed tasks to ensure compliance with Town aesthetics, safety standards, and public service expectations.
• Public Relations & Guest Services: Interacts daily with residents, visitors, and the general public in a professional and courteous manner; directly fields, investigates, and resolves public inquiries, complaints, and service requests regarding park facilities.
• Rules Enforcement & Compliance: Monitors park utilization to ensure public safety and compliance with Town ordinances; handles on-site interventions when visitors are acting against park rules or conducting unpermitted activities/events. Educates the public on permit requirements and coordinates with Town code enforcement or law enforcement when necessary.
• Incident Response & Problem Solving: Serves as the primary on-site problem solver for any dynamic issues that may occur within a public park environment (e.g., medical emergencies, structural failures, wildlife hazards, parking disputes, or unapproved commercial activity).
• Reporting & Coordination: Reports operational updates, equipment needs, public safety incidents, and maintenance logs directly to the Golf Course Superintendent to ensure cohesive grounds management across operations.
• Inter-Agency Collaboration: Serves as the primary daily on-site liaison for the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, collaborating on scheduling, educational seminars, and specialized park projects.
• Contractual Oversight & Liaison: Asists management by acting as a localized point of contact for the third-party landscape maintenance contractor; helps facilitate communication regarding daily task completions, event schedules, and specialized site needs. Also has oversight of the restroom cleaning contract and will assist with light cleanup between the vendor's scheduled cleanups.
• Infrastructure & Pathway Maintenance: Directly oversees and participates in the maintenance of all nature, pedestrian, sand, and ADA accessible pathways, ensuring they are free of debris, sand drifts, or safety hazards.
• Facility & Asset Management: Inspects and ensures the proper upkeep of town-owned park structures including the playground, beach pavilions, restrooms, showers, shade structures, lifeguard stands, and public works border walls.
• Resource Management & Logistics: Coordinates event support, setup, and structural/turf recovery following high-use activities or private park rentals. Manages day-to-day trash collection systems and dumpster logistics with the Town’s Public Works department.
• Environmental & Safety Monitoring: Coordinates active iguana removal and pest mitigation efforts within municipal boundaries. Monitors low-level pathway lighting, parking gates, and safety features for immediate maintenance reporting.
• Heavy Equipment Operation: Operates utility vehicles, tractors, material-haulers, pressure washers, and specialized grounds equipment safely.
• Emergency & Storm Response: Acts as an essential first responder for storm preparation and post-event debris removal, ensuring Phipps Ocean Park is rapidly stabilized and safe for public use.
• Departmental Support & Adaptability: Performs general landscaping, turf care, and grounds maintenance tasks at Phipps Ocean Park and other Recreation Department facilities as operational needs dictate; executes all other duties as assigned to support overall municipal operations.

Minimum and Preferred Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED equivalent; supplemented by three (3) years of experience in park maintenance, commercial grounds operations, golf course maintenance, or public works infrastructure maintenance, including at least one (1) year in a team lead or supervisory capacity.
• Experience handling public interactions and code/rule enforcement in a public park setting is highly desirable.

Skills and Competencies

• Knowledge of Park & Grounds Maintenance: Considerable knowledge of commercial landscaping best practices, turf maintenance, and irrigation systems; working knowledge of public park infrastructure, hardscape upkeep, and public playground equipment safety standards, alongside general familiarity with all standard tools, materials, and operational requirements of a public park system.
• Proficiency in managing modern management software, including, but not limited to asset management and central control irrigation systems.

• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, and ability to follow verbal and written instructions.
• Ability to effectively view and interpret information on a computer monitor, read printed materials, and see objects at varying distances, including the ability to distinguish colors when required for job-related tasks.
• Ability to perceive the nature of sounds by ear.
• Ability to distinguish, with a degree of accuracy, differences or similarities in intensity or quality of flavors or odors.
• Ability to raise or lower objects of up to 80 pounds from one level to another (includes upward pulling).
• Ability to exert force upon an object so that the object moves away from the force.
• Ability to move about on foot.
• Ability to remain in the seated position and/or remain on one's feet in an upright position at a workstation without moving about.
• Ability to bend body downward and forward by bending spine at the waist, requiring full use of the lower extremities and back muscles.
• Ability to ascend or descend ladders, stairs, scaffolding, ramps, or poles, and get in and out of vehicles using legs and feet or hands and arms.
• Ability to work in varying environmental conditions including cold, heat, humidity, or precipitation.

This is a non-exempt position paid on an hourly basis which is eligible for overtime.

The Town of Palm Beach offers a compressive benefits package that includes health, prescription, dental and other supplementary benefits. Refer to the General Employees Benefits page and Retirement Guide for more information on these programs.