Omaha parks expected to be ‘a top priority’ in mayor’s 2027 budget

OMAHA, Neb. —

Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr. is looking to significantly increase funding for Parks and Recreation in the city’s 2027 budget, which will be presented later this summer, a spokesperson tells KETV.

The mayor’s office views the department as underfunded. Compared to other cities, it “operates with lean staffing and spending levels,” says a study presented in the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan published in September last year.

Parks are “a top priority” of Ewing, said Erin Grace, the mayor’s communication director.

“Right now, I feel like my role is kind of all things parks, to be honest with you,” said Jacquelyn Morrison, who works in the mayor’s office as the director of transformation and strategic partnerships.

Morrison highlighted the master plan’s finding of a $5 million “gap” in operating expenses.

She said the city is averaging about $4.5 million a year on capital projects.

“We think that in order to keep up with the assets that we have in the system, we need to be closer to about $10 million a year in the capital side,” Morrison said.

Since last July, Omaha has been without a permanent parks director. Jake Lindner is serving as the city’s interim parks director after the resignation of Matt Kalcevich, who resigned and took the same role in Dubuque, Iowa.

The city is on its second search firm looking to fill the role.

“The first one did not produce the candidate pool that we were hoping for,” Morrison said. “We did get a really good candidate pool this time.”

Morrison said the city is “hoping that by the end of summer, we could potentially have a parks director in place.”

Morrison said the city has “worked out a lot of kinks” at Parks and Rec so a new director “can hit the ground running.”

“We wanted to make sure that we understood all of the needs of the Parks Department, and that we could align the needs with the right director,” Morrison said.

Tony Burkhalter, the president of the union that represents Omaha parks employees, said the department has “always” been understaffed in his 10 years in his role.

“The city’s taking the initiative this year to try to fill those grounds maintenance technician positions (that had been unfilled),” he said. “Nevertheless, we still have to catch up.”

Councilmember LaVonya Goodwin, who said she received “quite a few complaints about parks” when she was elected last year, also sees improvement.

“It looks promising to me that we’re going to be able to mitigate this budget shortfall for parks,” Goodwin said.

Ewing appoints new interim parks director

As Omaha continues the city’s search for a new parks director, Mayor John Ewing Jr. named Jacquelyn Morrison as the new interim director.

The role is effective starting July 6.

Morrison has served the mayor’s office since 2022 and has worked in economic development.

Officials said the city selected a preferred candidate to lead the parks department as part of the search process. However, the candidate withdrew their name for personal reasons.

The city said outgoing interim director Jake Lindner will return to his previous role as Park Planning and Development Manager.

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