Kansas native Stacey Mills said that every time he visited his in-laws in Heber Springs, he fell more in love with the town.
Mills said that after visiting them for the third year, he told his wife, “We’re moving.” She balked a little, he recalled, because the couple had just built a house in his hometown, Derby, Kansas. “I said, ‘Don’t worry; it’ll work out,’” Mills said.
And it did. They moved to Heber Springs in 2003. One job led to another, and in January, the 47-year-old Mills became director of Heber Springs Parks and Recreation.
“I’ve been in management most of my life, and I believe in teamwork,” he said. “I believe in making the employees happy.”
Mills also likes small towns — he grew up in one. He went to a junior college before transferring to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
“When I first went up to Northern Arizona, … I applied to learn how to be a ski instructor,” he said. After training for six months, he became a ski instructor.
“I had more fun with the little kids than anything. They’re all bundled up with their hats and stuff; they look like huge snowmen out there, even though they’re 2 feet tall,” he said, laughing.
He earned his business degree at Arizona State University in Tempe and started a T-shirt business in that city.
After doing that for five years, an “odd thing happened,” he said. “I had this weird sign that I needed to move back to Kansas. I didn’t know why, but something told me.”
Mills, just 22 years old at the time, called his father and told him he was moving back. His father died of lung cancer almost two years later at age 55.
“I got to spend a year and 11 months with my father,” Mills said.
Mills had sold his T-shirt business and landed a job with Cane’s Coffee, which was purchased by Sara Lee. He worked there for 10 years as “coffee guru,” he said — but one who didn’t drink coffee. “I never acquired [a taste for] it; I sold a lot of it,” he said, laughing.
He did the leg work and showed what coffee was needed in the restaurants. He helped owners install and learn to use espresso machines and grinders, and help set up other coffee shops.
When Mills and his family moved to Heber Springs, he used his Sara Lee connections to land a job in the same line of work as food-and-beverage director for US Foods in Little Rock, where he worked to increase the company’s sales of coffee, tea and spices, and he also sold restaurant equipment.
“It really had a toll on me,” he said. “I was over 50 salesman, and I helped them. I had to do a lot of driving.” His son, Brandon, and daughter, MacKenzie, were younger then, and Mills said he missed too many of their sports and school activities. “I was gone five days a week on the road,” he said.
So he quit what was a good job, financially, and took a few months off. He took a job as a maintenance technician in the Heber Springs School District. He repaired air conditioners, worked on plumbing. “I’m one of those guys who can fix about anything,” he said.
The leap from that position to parks and recreation director may not seem obvious, except that Mills is a jack-of-all-trades and has an outgoing personality.
At the time, Jimmy Clark, who is now the Heber Springs mayor, was parks and rec director.
Mills was still working for the school district, but he and his wife were building a home in the same neighborhood as Clark.
“I did everything from the inside, Sheetrock, flooring, trim,” Mills said, although he did contract the foundation to be poured.
Clark kept driving by and saw the home’s progress, Mills said.
“He pulled in and introduced himself. We kind of hit it off,” Mills said. He said Clark was impressed that he was building the home himself. Mills said he framed a 2,000-square-foot garage in four days. “[Clark] couldn’t believe it,” Mills said.
Clark told Mills there was a job opening in the city’s sanitation department and asked if he’d be interested. “I said, ‘Sure.’ I’m always looking to change and better myself,” Mills said.
Mills didn’t get the job, but a couple of months later, he got a groundskeeper supervisor’s job with the city. It was during that interview that he made his intentions known. Then-mayor Jackie McPherson asked Mills where he wanted to be in five years. “I said, ‘I want his job’ and pointed to Clark. That kind of shocked them all,” Mills said, laughing.
After 2 1/2 years as a groundskeeper, Mills got his wish. Clark became mayor in January, and Mills was hired as director of parks and recreation.
“I jumped in there,” he said. Although he didn’t have a parks and recreation degree, he knew the facilities like the back of his hand and had management experience. “I think it really is about the person; my personality — I just love people, and I want to help everybody.”
Clark said he was impressed with Mills from the get-go when he saw the construction work Mills did.
“All of a sudden the house was built, and this guy was building a three-car garage, and he built it in [four] days. I said, ‘I have to find out who this guy is,’” Clark said. “We were lucky enough to pull him away from the school and hired him.”
Clark said Mills was the right person for the parks and recreation job for several reasons.
“Stacey’s very talented; he can do lots of things,” Clark said. “He knows every valve in the swimming pool and every water fountain at the parks. Sixty percent of that job is probably maintenance. If there’s an event going on and a toilet problem at midnight, we did it. That’s a lot of it — making sure things are prepared and ready for festivals and events at the community center or wherever.”
He said Mills knows how to get repairs done in the most cost-effective way. “He’s well aware of how to stay within a budget,” Clark said.
The mayor also said Mills’ sales experience “helps him with people and knowing how to treat people and how to manage people.”
Mills said he oversees approximately 20 employees, and he is responsible for the many facilities and parks that make Heber Springs such a popular area for both tourists and residents.
“I’m over the whole [community] center — the aquatics center,” he said. The annual budget for the center is $1.1 million, he said. In addition, he’s responsible for Spring Park, the ballparks, Sandy Beach, and “I’m still responsible for old Optimist Park. It has a little race track and community garden,” he said. “We maintain and watch the old Young Businessmen’s Club park. We mow and keep it clean. I take care of Bridal Veil Falls on the hill and Lookout Point; there’s a deck where people can come and visit. They can look out and see the falls.”
Mills said his biggest challenge is keeping the parks and facilities maintained and making sure the employees are happy. He said it took some time to gain the employees’ trust and let them know “I’m on their side.” If the grounds crew is short a person, “I don’t mind hopping on a mower,” he said.
He said one of his goals is to expand membership at the community center. Mills said he wants the center to be more of “a family-oriented thing. I want to bring the people from Heber and show them what they have here. A lot of people don’t really know how lucky they are to have a $20 million facility sitting in a town of 7,000 people,” he said.
Mills said he made a presentation in the school district and held a drawing for six 30-day memberships to try out the community center. He said it’s a great place for kids to swim, and it has a swim team — the Gators. Students can get involved with sports — basketball, baseball and soccer, he said.
It’s his busiest time of year with the summer vacation around the corner, but Mills said working 24/7 doesn’t bother him. He’s found a job he loves in a city he loves.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.