Elizabeth Kayl to Retire from City of Loveland

By Elizabeth Kayl, CPM, CPRP, Parks and Recreation Director, City of Loveland

On June 1, 2023, I will be retiring from municipal service in Parks and Recreation after 38 years in the field. I have worked for a total of 7 municipalities in 3 states: Colorado, Arizona and California, and have also worked for several years in Germany with MWR. Most currently, I am the Director of Parks and Recreation for the beautiful art-inspired City of Loveland, Colorado, where I have served in that capacity for the past 8+ years. I spent most of those years actively participating on the CPRA Directors’ Section as Secretary, offered Culture training through Lunch n’ Learns at different parts of the state, and was the first CPRA member to graduate from the Colorado Certified Public Manager (CPM) Program through the partnership with the School of Public Affairs at UC Denver.

I have been proud to be a part of many accomplishments with the Loveland

Parks and Recreation Department in the past 8 years, most notably achieving CAPRA certification in 2020 during the midst of a global pandemic. The strength and resilience of the Loveland team during those hard times was testimony why I place such a high focus on workplace culture. Additional milestones include the development of a robust open lands and trails program that has not only connected the recreation trail throughout the city, but is connecting to our neighboring jurisdictions in all directions, the rebuilding of our treasured mountain park, Viestenz-Smith, after the devastation of the 2013 flood event, and the many partnerships established through strong relationships. Currently, we are doing two major initiatives that I wanted to see initiated: the update of our Department Master Plan and the development of Loveland’s first universal playground/ park. These two projects will see completion soon and will add lasting value to our continued success of serving our community.

Post-retirement, my husband LeRoy, little dachshund Delilah and I will be traveling through all the national parks in our camper, visiting family, taking tons of photos, and enjoying our cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota.