TACOMA, WA – Metro Parks Tacoma will be filling two vacant positions on its Board of Park Commissioners in the coming months.
On Monday, Commissioners Aaron Pointer and Rosie Ayala submitted letters of resignation.
Pointer is retiring after 24 years of service to the park district, including three years as president and three years as clerk. Ayala was recently elected to the Pierce County Council and will be sworn into that post at the start of her term in January 2025.
Pointer’s resignation is effective Dec. 10. Ayala’s resignation is effective Dec. 31.
“It will be hard to lose the leadership of Commissioners Pointer and Ayala but I’m confident we will find people who hold the same values and passion for Tacoma parks,” President Andrea Smith said. “It’s been an honor to serve alongside both commissioners and we wish them the best in their next chapters.”
Pointer, a former major league baseball player and NFL referee who spent 30 years as the athletic supervisor for Pierce County Parks, has served on the Park Board since 2001. During his tenure, voters approved two major bond packages that funded extensive growth in the park system and Metro Parks earned national accreditation twice.
“Thanks to consistent community support, Metro Parks continues to be recognized among the best park systems in the nation,” Pointer wrote in his resignation letter. “I thank everyone for their support over the years, and I am excited to see how the system evolves to meet our community’s needs.”
Ayala, the former associate director of collective action at Foundation for Tacoma Students, was sworn in as the first Latina board member in the park district’s history in 2022.
She said she’s proud of advocacy efforts for ParksRx, a new community center, safe spaces for all and reaching people through their language of choice.
“Together, we’ve strengthened public trust, made our community more inclusive and demonstrated our dedication to the natural world,” Ayala wrote in her resignation letter.
Remaining on the Park Board are President Smith and Commissioners Tim Reid and Matt Mauer.
The Park Board plans to follow this schedule for selecting the two new commissioners:
- Nov. 19 – Dec. 3: Interested and eligible individuals can apply for the appointments through an online process.
- Dec. 5: Park Board selects finalists.
- Dec. 9: The Park Board and representatives from Metro Parks’ four community advisory councils interview the finalists.
- Dec. 20: The Park Board votes to appoint a new commissioner to Pointer’s seat.
- Jan. 13: The Park Board, including the newly appointed commissioner, reviews and either confirms or changes the list of finalists for Ayala’s position.
- Feb. 10: The Park Board votes to appoint a new commissioner to Ayala’s seat.
More details, including a link to the online application, can be found here.
Pointer’s successor will serve on the Board through 2025. Ayala’s term ends Dec. 31, 2027, but whomever is selected to fill her post will have to run in the regular 2025 election to fulfill her entire term.
The Board of Park Commissioners governs Metro Parks Tacoma and is the policymaking body for the park district. Commissioners serve six-year terms.
Metro Parks was established as the state’s first independent parks agency in 1907 and manages more than 2,900 acres of land. That includes 65 plus parks and regional attractions like Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, Fort Nisqually Living History Museum and the W.W. Seymour Conservatory. The park district offers hundreds of recreational, environmental and zoological programs that encourage people to play, learn and grow.
