Aware of the accounting situation she has walked into at the Buxton Recreation Department and the concerns some citizens may have, Tashia Geaumont is not at all hesitant.

“I’m very excited,” Geaumont, the town’s new recreation director, said Tuesday, her second day on the job. “I have lots of programs coming up.”

She thinks the proof of her ability to serve Buxton is evident in her service to Old Orchard Beach as the recreation director, and her subsequent service as the interim director, which the town asked her to do on two different occasions.

According to selectmen, around two-dozen applications were received for the position, including some from out of state. Geaumont was a stand-out candidate from the start, Selectman Bob Libby said.

Selectmen hired Geaumont, 36, for the full-time job last week. She will be paid $34,000 a year.

Geaumont takes over in Buxton two months after the former director, Chris Barstow, resigned his due to an audit that discovered he had been mismanaging town funds.

Barstow, of Gorham, was the full-time recreation director in Buxton for two years, and is now under police investigation for his use of the recreation funds. Over the course of his employment, the recreation department’s financial accounts were falling into disarray while Barstow tried to juggle his duties in Buxton with his duties as the representative for House District 129. Barstow has since withdrawn from the race to be re-elected in November.

Buxton selectmen had worked with the auditor and Barstow to fix poor accounting practices, which included failure to collect debts. Nonetheless, the department was eventually operating with a deficit. Auditors later discovered that Barstow had been “mismanaging” town funds, inappropriately using a town credit card to put gas in a personal vehicle, using a postage machine for personal use, making personal calls on a town cell phone and not depositing money paid by citizens for recreation programs.

An investigation, headed by Buxton Police Chief Jody Thomas, is ongoing. However, Thomas has since resigned as police chief, and is on vacation through her last day of work, which is Sunday. She could not be reached for an update on the investigation into Barstow.

Buxton selectmen have initiated a number of new accounting procedures recommended by the auditors to ensure a similar case does not arise again.

Meanwhile, Geaumont said she will only run self-sufficient programs.

“We’re taking a look at what will cover itself,” she said.

The department runs numerous programs, including summer camps, sports camps, trips to Funtown, music lessons, and programs for adults such as trips to Foxwoods casino, to Boston and to Toronto for Red Sox-Blue Jays games.

The department has around 500 participants every year.

“Give me a couple years and we’ll double it,” Geaumont said.

Geaumont said she hopes to organize a once-a-month night to allow for parents to drop their kids so they can have a “date night.” She also wants to form a nutrition and weight-loss program based on the hit reality television show, “The Biggest Loser,” where participants work to lose weight through exercise and healthy eating. Geaumont plans to seek corporate donations like bikes or gift cards to use as rewards in her “Biggest Loser” program.

Geaumont’s one-year service as the recreation director in Old Orchard Beach ended in 1996, when she left the position to become a full-time mother. She eventually served the town over the course of three years as she was twice asked to be the town’s interim director while Old Orchard Beach looked for full-time directors. She has a bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy from the University of Southern Maine.

Geaumont has taught physical education at private schools and is an active tri-athelete, training daily. She will compete in a Maine women’s triathalon, Triforacure, on Aug. 9. Geaumont grew up in Old Orchard Beach, and now lives in Limington with her husband, a 12-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son, and a pair of twins – a girl and a boy – who are 6.

She also cares for animals at her home, including goats, pigs, chickens and dogs. “You name it, we’ve had it,” she said.

“I’m used to juggling 100 balls at once, so this is nothing new,” she said about the Buxton job.

New direction seen for Buxton recreationNew direction seen for Buxton recreation