City officials knew it would take a special kind of person to take the reins of Helena’s parks and recreation department when the former chief retired after a 25-year career.

The candidate had to have the organizational skills to head a 15-employee department with a $2.5 million annual budget, the leadership to tackle a $7.85 million parks-improvement project and other challenges, the personality to fit in with a management team that’s been in place for years, and the ability to work with a variety of community advisory groups and volunteer residents.

On Thursday, officials said they hit the sweet spot with Amy Teegarden, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service who now serves as the public affairs officer for the Helena National Forest.

“Looking into the future and looking at our current situation, Amy came out on top,” City Manager Tim Burton said. “We just felt that she would do a wonderful job for the city.

“What a blessing for the city of Helena to tap into Amy’s knowledge, skills and abilities,” he added.

He thanked the 30 applicants who vied for the position, and noted the other two finalists were quite capable of filling the role. But Burton, Mayor Jim Smith and their team of department heads unanimously chose Teegarden.

“A number of things impressed me about Amy,” Smith said. “She had certainly done her homework and knew the position and had a good feel for the challenges and demands of the job.

“She’s going to hit the ... ground running and she’s got a lot of stuff to do, but she was prepared and excited for it,” he added.

In an interview Thursday, Teegarden said the good news hadn’t yet sunk in.

“To be able to have such a career opportunity and not leave Helena, it’s just great,” she said. “I’m really excited.

“I’m looking forward to working with a great team there,” she added. “I’ll miss the people I’ve worked with (at the National Forest).”

Teegarden will begin her new role June 30. In the interim, Parks Division Superintendent Rich Lynd will serve as acting director.

She’ll spend her first few months on the job shadowing some of her longtime employees, like Lynd and Golf Course Superintendent Larry Kurokawa, and learning the working details of her new department.

Teegarden also will jump into a massive project to expand Centennial Park and renovate Memorial Park and Kindrick Legion Field, work she noted began with two positive factors — the leadership of former director Randy Lilje, who retired April 30, and the overwhelming support from city voters, who approved the project’s funding last year.

She will lead ongoing efforts to develop vacant city parkland in neighborhoods throughout Helena by doing what she loves best: working with passionate volunteers. A neighborhood group in the Belt View Drive area has picked up steam in its work to create a park there, and other groups could spring up across the Queen City.

“I think neighborhood parks become a reflection of the neighborhood,” Teegarden said. “If (residents) feel they have ownership from the beginning, (the parks) are going to be cared for and used.”

She also will be able to apply her land-management skills to the city’s 2,000 acres of open space, dealing with noxious weeds, overgrown tree stands and bark-beetle infestations.

Teegarden said she’ll work to propose creative new solutions for parks and recreational opportunities here, and as an involved mother of three children she plans to work to improve the city’s solid opportunities for youth recreation. Teegarden suggested the city could develop a program modeled after the Montana Conservation Corps, which hires young people to build and maintain trails throughout the Big Sky State.

At age 16, she volunteered to do trail work with the Forest Service, an experience that changed the course of her life.

“Once they’re connected to that land, they’re going to value that land,” Teegarden said of young trail workers.

“I think today’s youth are plugged-in too much,” she added.

While she will miss her coworkers at the Helena National Forest, she knows she’ll still be able to see them often.

The atmosphere in the federal government has become somewhat frustrating in recent years, she said.

“It’s a difficult time to see results on the ground,” Teegarden said.

“I work with some very talented people here,” she added.

Teegarden worked summers at the Forest Service during high school and college. After graduating with a degree in parks and recreation from the University of Wyoming in 1986, she began working full-time for the federal government.

She did recreation and visitor information work for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests in Colorado until 1992, when she and her husband Todd moved to Helena. She knocked on doors at the Helena National Forest, and has since worn a variety of hats — working in community outreach, education and public affairs. She was instrumental in founding the Montana Discovery Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the forest’s operations.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com