New City Parks Director Max Webster.
City government’s newly un-merged parks department has a new director, a Yale forestry school grad who most recently worked in the public greenspaces of Chicago.
The city’s new Parks Department director is named Maxwell Webster. His first day on the job will be Tuesday.
Mayor Justin Elicker announced that news in a Friday press release.
Webster assumes that role several months after the mayor proposed and the Board of Alders approved re-splitting the city’s parks department from the public works department, as part of the fiscal year that began July 1. That budget move reversed a 2020 merger that was roundly criticized by parks volunteers and advocates for taking away too much time, attention, and resources from the stewardship of the city’s public greenspaces.
As New Haven’s parks director, Webster will oversee 45 full-time employees and “the equivalent of 39” seasonal part-time employees. He will manage the maintenance and long-time planning of everything from parks and forests to athletic fields, playgrounds, and splash pads. New Haven has “2,200 acres of parkland across 100 park sites.”
The Parks Department also works with the city’s Youth and Recreation Department.
Webster, who most recently served as the natural areas manager for the Chicago Park District, has overseen the operations of “over 1,000 acres of natural areas” and has managed a staff of 40 full-time and seasonal employees.
Webster also has a background in policy, and previously served as the midwest policy manager for American Farmland Trust. He also worked with the Washington Environmental Council, where he led advocacy efforts to secure $20 million in public funding for forest conservation efforts across the state.
Having earned his Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (where he also worked with the Urban Resources Initiative), this will mark Webster’s return to New Haven.
“I am excited to return to New Haven as the city’s new Parks Director and look forward to serving alongside the dedicated staff of the Parks Department to steward the Elm City’s parks, green spaces, and urban forest,” Webster stated in Friday’s press release.
“New Haven is blessed with an incredible amount of parkland and, working in partnership with the community, I’m committed to ensuring New Haven has a high-quality, vibrant, and inclusive parks system that promotes outdoor recreation, health, wellness, and environmental sustainability.”
“Our parks are among our city’s most treasured assets where residents go daily to enjoy time outdoors, exercise and play sports, and spend time with family and friends. We’re committed to ensuring our parks, playgrounds, and green spaces are welcoming, well-used, and well-maintained places for all New Haveners to enjoy,” said Elicker. “I’m excited to welcome Max Webster back to New Haven as our new Parks Director and for him to bring his experience, knowledge, and expertise from across the country to build on and strengthen the work we’ve been doing to enhance our local parks, playgrounds and green spaces.”
Michael Siciliano, who began working in January as the director of parks and public works, has served as acting director of parks since the departments un-merged in July. With Webster’s appointment, Siciliano will continue to serve as the director of public works. The director of parks reports to the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, who is currently Regina Rush-Kittle.
Read more coverage about the Parks Department here and here.