OXFORD — The town intends to hire a part-time recreation director to oversee the activities of the volunteer-driven Oxford Recreation Department year-round.

Selectmen approved the creation of the new position at their meeting on Oct. 17. 

With year-round programming, the department’s hardworking volunteers can use help from a regular employee, Town Manager Michael Chammings told selectmen. 

“There’s a lot of work, a lot of programs that are run out of the Recreation Department, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have a Recreation Committee that’s very active … some of these people are putting in 15 or 20 hours a week, and I don’t know how long we’ll be able to rely on that.”

The department hires seasonal employees to oversee its programming and events. The plan is to combine several seasonal positions into one year-round job to oversee the department’s growing portfolio of activities and events, such as swim lessons, ice skating and the annual duck race on the Little Androscoggin River.

Chammings said the town could advertise the position, which will be about 20-25 hours a week, and fund the position with the budget for the department’s winter seasonal position. 

In an interview Monday, Chammings said seasonal workers are paid $10 an hour. The addition of a recreation director will require adding money to the Recreation Department budget, which is subject to voter approval.

Hiring a year-round director won’t eliminate the need for seasonal workers, especially in the summer, Chammings noted. 

The town intends to compare recreation director salaries in other towns to determine a competitive wage, he said. 

The board intends to approve a job description for the position at its next meeting on Nov. 7.