Kukitz to step down from Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority

The head of the Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority has announced he will step down from his post.

It was announced at Thursday’s Walnutport Borough Council meeting that Mike Kukitz, executive director, will leave the organization.

Borough Councilwoman Patrice Hunsicker said Kukitz decided to step down for “quite a few reasons.”

“Mostly on a personal level,” Hunsicker said, adding that he gave several weeks notice.

Contacted Friday, Kukitz said he gave four weeks notice.

“It wasn’t really anything personal,” Kukitz said. “Sometimes a better opportunity comes along.”

Kukitz said he has opted to take a position as incoming recreation director for the Blue Mountain Recreation Commission in Orwigsburg.

“I loved working in Northern Lehigh and getting all the programs and events going and getting a strong foundation going for their recreation department,” he said. “Another opportunity came along, and I had to pursue it.

“It was just a good opportunity.”

Hunsicker said that someone will have to fill the position.

Borough Mayor Wayne Weidner asked how that will affect the Northern Lehigh Community Center.

Hunsicker assured Weidner that nothing is changing, aside from the person who will take over for Kukitz.

Kukitz said Hunsicker was exactly right.

“Nothing’s changing on any front, or the plan to build the center,” he said. “They’re in a much better spot than they were in before I got here with the community center.”

Kukitz, who began as executive director Aug. 1, 2016, said he’s proud of the job he did serving in that capacity.

“The summer recreation program at the school and working hand in hand with the school district has been wonderful for the kids,” he said. “I’ll miss working there.”

Kukitz said he plans to continue in his current position until the end of this month.

His decision to resign comes just as the highly anticipated community center began to pick up steam in recent months.

Last month, the final in a series of feasibility study meetings for the 16,000-square-foot community center at 545 W. Church St. in Slatington was held.

Kukitz said the community center has been in the works for about 20 years.

In August, the Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority engaged Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site (KBA+S), and their consultant, Ballard*King (B*K), to complete a feasibility study for a new center.

The site currently contains about a 9,600-square-foot building shell that was completed in 2010. No other work has been completed to date at the 3.1-acre site.

From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, a group of volunteers raised more than $600,000 to purchase land and garner support, which allowed them to construct the shell of the community center facility in 2012.

Since then, the group of volunteers has turned to the local municipalities for assistance.

The Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority was formed in 2016 and consists of Slatington, Walnutport and Washington Township, with a mission to complete the facility.

Hunsicker said last month that numbers are being compiled to see how much it will cost each of the three municipalities.

For more information on the community center, visit www.nlcommunitycenter.com.