Community Services

The Community Services Director for the City of McAlester is Mel Priddy. His office is located   in the J.L Stipe Recreation Center, 801 North 9th. He is a life long resident of McAlester. He attended the University of Oklahoma graduating in 1970 with a degree in Business Administration and spent 2 years active duty in the United States Army as a 1st lieutenant serving 12 months in Vietnam. His wife, Carlotta, has been a secretary at the High School for 20 years. They have 2 children.  Mel began his employment with the City of McAlester in 1972 as the Administrative Assistant to the City Manager. From there he moved to the model cities office as the Business Planner. He became the Community Services Director in May 1978. His Division consists of the following departments:

Parks & Recreation - The City of McAlester has 13 City Parks, 3 large swimming pools, 6 wading pools, the  J.L.Stipe Recreation Center and the Pittsburg County Softball Complex.

Cemetery - The City of McAlester has 2 Cemeteries, Oak Hill located at 13th & Washington and North McAlester located at 7th and Hereford Lane.

Senior Citizens - The City of McAlester has 2 Senior Citizen Centers. The main Center is located in the J.L Stipe Recreation Center at 801 N. 9th, and a sub-center located at 600 W. Kiowa.

Building Maintenance - This department is responsible for all maintenance of City properties.

Library - The McAlester Public Library is located at 401 N. 2nd. The City is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and grounds; we have no responsibility for the actual operation of the Library.

Mel Priddy, Community Services Director, is the supervisor over the pools. A part time aquatics director assists him each summer. Our big pools open on Memorial Day weekend and our wading pools the following week.

The City of McAlester has 3 big pools: The largest, Jeff Lee, is located at 1310 N. 3rd Street and is open 7 days a week from 1 :00 pm to 7:00 pm. The next largest pool, Stipe, is located at 801 N. 9th Street directly behind the Stipe Recreation Center and is open 7 days a week from 1 :00 pm to 6:00 pm. The smallest of our big pools, Mullens, is located at 409 W. Springer and is also open 7 days a week from 1 :00 pm to 6:00 pm.

We also have 6 wading pools around the city in various parks. Jeff Lee, located at 1310 N. 3rd Street, Hutchison located at 2701 N. 4th Street, "B" & Jefferson, located at 301 W. Jefferson Street, Chadick, located at 500 S. 3rd Street, Komar, located at 225 W. Comanche Street, and Hunter, located at 1403 E. Chickasaw Street. All the wading pools except Jeff Lee are open Monday thru Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and closed on Sunday. Age limit for the wading pools is 12 and under. All children 6 or under must be accompanied by an adult that will remain at the pool site.

All big pools and wading pools are available for private parties. You may call the Stipe Recreation Center at 421-4922 or 423-9268 for more information or to book a party.

Each year the American Red Cross offers swimming lessons at the Jeff Lee Pool. To sign up for swimming lessons please call 423-0481.