The Bainbridge-Decatur County Recreation Authority has set a tentative schedule for hiring a director with a goal of having a director in place by January.

The authority made the decision at a three-hour-long special-called meeting Monday after members met with George Page, the director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority.

“Identifying a director is at the top of the authority’s priority list. Our goal is to have a director hired early in 2016,” authority chairman Jeff Findley said. “The director will help the authority with planning and administrative work that will need to happen before July 1, 2016.”

Findley said that January deadline was just a goal, and other authority members echoed that the main goal was to find the right person.

“We don’t need to hardline a date,” authority member Jeff Lynn said. “[Chris Hobby] just made a suggestion as January being a good time to go ahead and hire somebody. We need to hire the right person.”

The authority is working out a specific job description to send out by mid-November and plans to work with the City of Bainbridge’s human resources director to narrow down the initial applicants. The authority is starting with the current job description of the director of Bainbridge Leisure Services and plan to edit it to better fit the goals of the authority because the authority will not deal with parks initially.

“He does an awful lot,” authority member Carol Floyd said of current Bainbridge Leisure Services director Al Kelley.

The authority has yet to decide upon a salary for the director.

The authority’s next regular meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 12 at the Potter Street Community Center when a representative of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government does a workshop with the authority.