Three county employees have applied for the county’s vacant recreation director position, but the Newton County Recreation Commission hasn’t yet decided whether to open up the position to outside applicants as well.

Two current recreation employees and one employee from another department applied for the position, according to county Human Resources Director Becky Heisten; the position was open for a week to county employees only.

According to multiple sources, the two Recreation Commission applicants are Assistant Recreation Director Anthony Avery, who is currently running the department, and Recreation Administrator Matt Taylor. The third applicant is Pamela Maxwell, who works as the business license and code enforcement coordinator for the Newton County Department of Developmental Services.

Recreation Commission Chairman Danny Stone said he plans to discuss the next steps with the commission in executive session after Monday’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting; the commission meets at 6 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month at the house at the entrance to Turner Lake Park, which houses the commission’s administrative offices.

Stone said the commission will choose to open the job up to the general public to garner more applications or to move forward with only the three internal candidates.

The job will pay between $58,595 and $75,000, according to the job description created by the county.

Minimum qualifications for the position are a bachelor’s degree in parks and recreation management or a related field, with a minimum of seven to 10 years of experience in "recreational programming, supervision, and recreational facility/park maintenance," or other equivalent combinations of education, training and recreational or park experience.