News editor
Eric Huebert is glad he won’t be commuting daily from Topeka to Hillsboro for his new job.
Parkside Homes needed a temporary licensed administrator while a replacement is sought for former executive director Gretchen Wagner, who left Friday for a new job in Wichita.
Huebert lives in Topeka and works for Aging Research Institute, a small consulting group that among other things provides coverage for situations like Parkside’s.
Huebert took on the temporary job, and was pleased to discover that Parkside offered an option that would keep his driving to a minimum.
“I’m fortunate that Parkside has been able to set me up with a vacant duplex on campus,” Huebert said. “I have a wife and young daughter and she’s a stay-at-home mom, so it works out she can come down and stay with me as well.”
Huebert started at Parkside on Monday.
Parkside board chairman Roger Fleming said he was sorry to see Wagner go, but that the change would give her a chance to pursue family goals.
“She put her heart and soul into her job and the residents and the staff,” Fleming said.
Huebert grew up in Halstead, and has worked with Parkside before. He worked alongside Wagner the past two weeks.
“That was very helpful,” he said. “I’m quite familiar with Parkside and the culture, the history, the reputation here.”
In addition to “holding things together,” Huebert and ARI will conduct the search for a permanent director.
“Hopefully around the three-month mark we have two or three top candidates who can do the job, and Parkside can pick one,” Huebert said.