Prince William County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (DPRT) has announced the selection of Janet Bartnik as its new Deputy Director. Bartnik mostly recently served as Executive Director of Mountain Recreation, a Colorado Special District that serves multiple mountain towns and unincorporated areas in Eagle County. She will begin as Deputy Director for Prince William DPRT on April 3, 2023.
As Deputy Director, Bartnik will support the capital project and planning division, which is managing an unprecedented amount of new capital investment, as well as assist the Director, Seth Hendler-Voss, with special projects and partnership development.
“Parks, recreation and tourism services are incredibly important to the fabric of communities,” said Bartnik. “I’m excited to see how my career experiences can benefit Prince William County.”
Seth Hendler-Voss sees Bartnik’s experience as the ideal match to help continue the agency’s momentum, stating, “Janet understands the holistic role that parks, recreation and tourism plays in strengthening communities across environmental, social and economic realms. Her collaborative sensibilities and expertise across all facets of our industry will be of tremendous value to our organization.”
While at Mountain Recreation, her accomplishments include championing the renovation of the Gypsum Community center and the expansion of the Freedom Park, engaging community partners in the construction of a KaBoom! Playground in an underserved rural neighborhood in the District, and bringing summer lunch programming to the District. She also helped to rebrand the organization.
Prior to her work at MRMD, she worked as the Director of Parks and Recreation in Liberty, Missouri, where she was instrumental in updating the Unified Land Development Ordinance to increase minimum standards for parkland dedications and trails, engaging community partners in the creation of a community health coalition (Liberty Community Health Action Team) and working with the Liberty Park Board to develop a new mission, vision, and strategic plan. She re-tooled Liberty’s Park Foundation as a tool for leveraging public and private dollars to achieve More for Parks.
Janet’s commitment to Parks and Recreation is shown in her association involvement. She has served as the Missouri Parks & Recreation Association President (2011-12) and as a board member and study and research Chair. She currently serves as a commissioner for the Council on Accreditation for Parks and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA), is an American Academy for Parks and Recreation Administration member, and is a past member and current campus visitor for the Council on Accreditation for Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (COAPRT) to name a few. In 2021, she received the Colorado Parks & Recreation Association President’s Award.
Bartnik holds a B.S. in Exercise Science and an M.S. in Sport Management from Virginia Tech.
