Ben Dillard has a simple philosophy when it comes to recreation - every dollar spent on recreation today is worth 10 dollars that won’t have to be spent on jails, police and rehab centers in the future.

The new director of the Carroll County Parks and Recreation Department, Dillard views the core of his job as providing people, especially families and children, with positive experiences.

“I want to focus on expanding the opportunities we have for people to enjoy that, not just concentrate necessarily on athletics and things,” said Dillard, who is leaving his role as the director of the Jefferson Recreation Department to return to Carrollton.

Dillard worked as an athletic coordinator for the Carroll County Parks and Recreation Department from 2001-05. He also worked at the Carrollton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department from 1999-2001.

Although he’s originally from the Stone Mountain area, Dillard has several family members in Carrollton and welcomed the opportunity to return to the area.

“Of course, in those seven years I met a lot of people and have a lot invested in the program,” Dillard said. “It’s a bigger department, my family lives there, so it’s a opportunity to get back and try to lead a growing area that’s got a lot to offer.”

Dillard replaces Ken Farmer, who hired him at the CPRCAD and is someone Dillard said he views as a friend and a mentor.

“I learned a lot from him,” Dillard said.

Among the changes he implemented in Jefferson that Dillard plans to put in place with the Carroll County department is a parent-orientation program.

“It gets everybody on the same page from the beginning because so many people sign up and they don’t get information properly or they don’t know who to talk to and it creates a lot of confusion,” Dillard said.

Dillard, who holds a Bachelor of Science in sports management from the University of West Georgia, said he’ll place a big emphasis on getting middle-school aged children involved in the recreation department.

“It’s that age of kid where they drop out of youth athletics and there’s nothing for them to do at the high school and that’s when kids start to get into trouble the most,” Dillard said.

Expanding beyond athletics, Dillard wants to start a program called Carroll Tube, which would be similar to the video-sharing Web site YouTube and allow kids in middle school to borrow video cameras, make a production and put it on the Internet.

Being flexible, exploring new opportunities and listening to what people in the community want are all paramount to Dillard’s philosophy as a recreation director.

“The target’s always moving and we want to move with it,” Dillard said. “We’re going to get everybody involved in the process because it’s everybody’s recreation department.”

Dillard doesn’t lack creativity when it comes to creating revenue. He spearheaded a community radio station in Jefferson last year with the profits going to the city’s parks and recreation department.

One of his first orders of business as director of the Carroll County Parks and Recreation Department will be to apply to the Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)(3) recognition as a not-for-profit private corporation.

“We’re always thought of last in the budget, last in the county or city government and I want to change that,” Dillard said. “So we’ll start a 501(c)(3) with our board to get the independent tax status and try to use that operation to raise money for all these projects and fields, or whatever it is we need.”

Revenue and raising money are an integral part of Dillard’s ultimate goal, one that is intertwined with his philosophy that money spent on recreation is money well spent.

“I have a goal one day and that’s to provide these services without a charge for them,” Dillard said. “We want to let everybody be able to participate regardless of income.”