The city of Grapevine announced Aug. 24 that Chris Smith will be its new parks and recreation director.

Smith has been with the city's parks department for 25 years, according to the Grapevine's weekly newsletter. He has been the department's deputy director for the past eight years, according to the newsletter. He was initially hired as as a fitness coordinator then promoted to aquatic supervisor and then recreation superintendent.

Smith earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of North Texas in kinesiology.

He replaces Kevin Mitchell, who resigned as parks director earlier this year after an audit found he had misspent taxpayer dollars for personal use.