Less than a decade passed from the time Matt Verdick was mopping floors and doing maintenance as a custodian for Rochester Public Schools to helping manage the largest capital project in Rice County history.
For about the last four years, Verdick has served as the county’s parks and facilities director. His last day in the position is March 15. He’s taking a new job as deputy administrator in Mower County, overseeing several departments.
The role is similar to his current one, since Rice County is the only county in the state with a combined parks and facilities department. He said it was a decision made before his time, but theorized it was to ensure efficiency.
About a month after he started, the study phase began for the 83,000-square-foot Public Safety Center, which will cost the county a little over $81 million including interest, making it the largest capital project ever taken on by the county.
It will add nearly 100,000 square feet to the space maintained by Verdick’s department, according to his presentation to the Rice County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning. During the department update, he said the growing square footage will necessitate 2-4 additional staff in the near future.
He admitted it’s “a little disappointing” that he won’t get to see it through to the end, even if the project is months ahead of schedule.
He does plan to return at least twice. He’ll be back for a ribbon-cutting ceremony when the facility opens, now expected to be complete by July. And he’ll present as the president of the Minnesota City/County Facility Management Association, which is holding its annual conference at the new Public Safety Center later in the year.
Verdick emphasized the importance of teamwork throughout the process, which involved a committee of county commissioners, sheriff’s office employees, jail administration and architectural firms.
“The committee that was on there worked really, really hard to make sure that the needs and wants were verified, and that the building actually met needs and not wants,” he said. “And the sheriff’s office worked really hard to ensure that it’s the right building and the right size and the right items in the building for the taxpayers of the community to make sure that the right money has been allocated in the proper spots. And I think they, the committee, achieved that goal very well.”
Rice County Sheriff Jesse Thomas also appreciated the collaboration.
“Matt was great to work with during our new Public Safety Project,” Thomas said. “He was always available for questions and willing to work with myself and others to make sure we looked at the many options available for our new building. He researched ideas and compared pricing. If I called his cell phone he always answered or called me right back. He will be missed. Hopefully his replacement is as qualified as he was.”
Verdick said whoever the personnel committee chooses for his replacement will have a dedicated team to help them get started.
“We have employees that just do absolutely great jobs who truly care about Rice County, and you can’t teach someone to care about the actual place they work,” he said. “And we have staff that truly care, so they go above and beyond every day.”
Among his staff is Administrative Assistant Nicole Kadrlik, who said Verdick made it a smooth transition onto the team last October for her.
“I truly think Matt makes this a team atmosphere,” she said. “It’s not just about the sole position you’re in; it’s always about what’s best for the team or what’s best for the group. And so it was a smooth transition in general because everybody was included. We always do everything together. And it was a really welcoming feel. So I think he is greatly gonna be missed.”
Urgency and patience
But not everything can go smoothly forever, as demonstrated on Christmas Eve of 2021, when an ice storm froze part of the ventilation system in the Rice County Government Services Building. The cold air froze a sprinkler line, which burst and began flooding the building.
An employee just happened to be doing a routine building check. While that employee had the water flow shut off within just five minutes of the pipe’s malfunction, the incident still caused about $60,000 in damage. Verdick and the other people in his department spent their Christmas Eve using shop vacs and setting up dehumidifiers.
While his role will remain officially vacant until his replacement is selected, Verdick offered what he thinks a good parks and facilities director should be good at:
“Just being patient and being able to be thoughtful,” he answered. “And let things kind of naturally progress as well, just don’t force things through.”
He said the biggest piece of his job is being mindful of the taxpayers.
“We are always being thoughtful of the taxpayers when we’re purchasing or fixing things or changing things, just to make sure we aren’t being wasteful,” he said. “… That’s the most important thing we can do working in government, ensuring that our tax base feels that we’re doing that and knows that we’re doing that.”
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