Perham Area Community Center executive director to step down Nov. 3

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM) – After four years on the job, Leigh Sheback, executive director for the Perham Area Community Center, will stepdown from his role on Nov. 3

Sheback led the fitness and wellness center through the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaw the facility during their major reconstruction.

“All of the hard projects now are done and we got a good staff in place,” said Sheback. “So it was just time for me to move on.”

He also said he believes he’s leaving the PACC in a good spot for the next executive director.

“We’re in a very good spot,” he said. “And I think now is a very good time for me to step aside and the PACC (Board) to move in whatever direction they want to next. We are financially secure. We got our donations coming in to finish the project here in the next couple of years. We have all of our programming that we were offering pre-pandemic just started back up and the last piece of that was roller skating that started up last Friday for the kids in the surrounding communities. Construction is wrapping up. We’ve got a couple walkthroughs to do and a couple punch item lists to do, but then we are all done. So we’re back to where we were pre-pandemic … and that’s a good sign.”

The PACC Board of Directors is expected to hire a replacement executive director in coming months and Sheback said, that person should be ready for a lot of budgeting and maybe have some finance tools in their back pocket.

“You need to be able to understand budgeting and financing, and have a good grasp of running the department from a financial standpoint,” said Sheback. “That’s still going to be one of the most important things for a director that steps into this particular role to have that to fall back on. Being able to know the ins and outs of not just an aquatics budget, but also from an overall standpoint.”

Sheback said he plans on focusing a little more on his own businesses before deciding what he wants to do next.