Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown wanted there to be a role created in the city to get youths engaged in activities that would keep them out of trouble. He said it's one of the city's biggest tools for intervention and put the Parks and Recreation Department in charge of it.

"I wanted to get in their lives early and Clemate Franklin, the director said 'Mayor, I've got a job description that I've watched the other communities do, let's bring it in,'" Mayor Brown said. "It's not all sports, we talked about little league football has died out but e-sports is growing so how do you connect the two? How do you find the kids who don't wanna play little league football, they may wanna play e-sports or how do you get them engaged early and involved," he said.

The job was recreation program supervisor, paying $51,280 annually and there were eight candidates up for the role.

Micaela Brown, Mayor Brown's daughter-in-law, placed third among them but ultimately ended up getting it.

Mayor Brown insists he was not involved.

"I guess after the first round, someone asked, 'What are we waiting to hire her,'" Brown said. "And again, I just know to be honest some of those in the interview did not know that she was my daughter-in-law, she got it all on her own," he said.

The mayor said Micaela went to school for this and is a good fit for the role.
"I can speak personally that she's talented, she brings that passion and I think it's a great opportunity for us to start retaining our talent in our community," Brown said.

He adds that sometimes the best candidate on paper doesn't mean they'll also be the best in person.

"I've done enough interviews to know that when people sometimes sit down in front of you and share their vision and their passion for the job that you're looking for and their ideas and their thoughts fit what you're looking for as an organization, sometimes that's how they rise," Brown said.

The mayor also said when it comes down to choosing between really good candidates, if any of them is a resident of the city, it's more than likely that candidate will get the job.