Longtime Louisville city employee Ozzy Gibson named interim director of TARC

Ozzy Gibson will serve as the interim TARC director while the city conducts a national search to find a permanent replacement for Carrie Butler at the public transportation agency.

Gibson is the current interim director of Louisville Parks and Recreation. He has served the city for more than 30 years, starting as a police officer and then working for several Metro departments, according to a release from the mayor's office.

"He will bring his excellent communication and leadership skills to TARC while we search for a permanent Executive Director," Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a statement. "We are incredibly grateful for his commitment to Metro Government and to the people of Louisville.”

Gibson will start as interim director at the Transit Authority of River City on Jan. 1.

The mayor and TARC's executive board accepted Butler's resignation Nov. 14. She will continue her role until the end of the year.

TARC leadership was at the center of a contentious Metro Council vote in June to approve the bus system’s fiscal year 2023-24 budget, with many members arguing their districts were not getting adequate service. It was approved on a 19-5 vote, with one abstention, but many of those who voted in favor said they were only doing so to ensure buses didn’t stop running.

More: Charges against Anthony Piagentini read before full Metro Council.

“I hear the concerns loud and clear, and candidly, I agree with them,” Greenberg said in June. “So we will be working with TARC’s current leadership and with the board to improve TARC so that it is a public transportation service that we are all proud of.”

Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at EMcCrary@courier-journal.com or at @ellie_mccrary on X, formerly known as Twitter. Reporter Lucas Aulbach contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: TARC interim director to be longtime Louisville employee Ozzy Gibson