The City of Manitowoc is creating a new department.
As part of the 2026 city budget, Mayor Justin Nickels asked the Personnel Committee to start the process to create a stand-alone Parks and Recreation Department and turn the Department of Public Infrastructure into the Department of Public Works.
The Parks and Recreation Department was consolidated in 2011 to save money, but Nickels says the city is in a position to restore the department.
“To truly prioritize parks and rec, give it’s identity that it deserves, I believe in our community,” he explained. “But (also) the quality of life and the economic development that comes with parks and rec.”
The mayor also noted that significant funding has been allocated to parks in the past, including $500,000 this year for redesigning and rebuilding Red Arrow Park.
Personnel Committee Member Mike Cummings explained that he supports the proposal, saying that it could help improve and grow the city, while Alderman Brett Norell also said he would want to look at the structure of the new department.
The Personnel Committee did not take any action, but could send a memo to the city’s Committee of the Whole for the entire council to give their opinions.
In Nickel’s proposal, the Parks and Recreation Department would control all parks, recreation, the senior center, the aquatic center, and Lincoln Park Zoo, while the newly formed Department of Public Works would control engineering, streets, buildings and grounds, transit, cemeteries, and forestry.
There would also be a new Parks and Recreation Standing Committee as well.
