Who is Ozzy Gibson, and how is he able to run so many Louisville city departments at once?

Most department heads in Louisville Metro government run one department.

But not Ozzy Gibson.

The 26-year Louisville Metro Police veteran is the executive director of both the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) and the parks department, overseeing more than 1,000 employees with a combined budget of about $125 million.

And ...

That's on top of the duties he received in November 2021 when he was named executive director of the Louisville Riverport Authority.

And ...

He is on tap to again become the director of Louisville Animal Metro Services, leading one metro councilwoman to wonder on her social media, "Is this a f------ joke?"

It's not.

In fact, Gibson has been appointed as the director of a half-dozen departments since his LMPD retirement in 2016.

So, how does he do it all, and is this really the best course for the city?

Gibson's penchant for moving to departments in need of a leader has earned him a reputation as a "fixer."

"I believe in putting round pegs in round holes," Gibson said. "Everybody in our community can point to all the problems, but one of the things that I did learn from (former) Mayor Fischer was to work weakness-oriented ...

"So when I come to a place ... I will ask the questions: What do we need? What do we not do well? What do we need to improve on?"

But Greg Fischer, who first appointed Gibson, said he can do more than just fix things.

"I guess you can call it fixing," Fischer said, "but I think it's underestimating his capabilities."

Is it ideal for one man to be running multiple departments at once?

"Maybe not in a perfect world, but we don’t live in a perfect world," Gibson said.

He said he has an advantage over other members of current Mayor Craig Greenberg's staff because he sat in meetings of the last administration, "for three years, three days a week for an hour, hour and a half, listening to the other deputy mayors talk about everything underneath them."

How can he do it all?

A self-proclaimed "systems-and-processes" guy, Gibson assesses problems the way he was trained and tested in the police department. Each advancement in the department required problem-solving tests.

"There’s no other metro government employees that have to go through that process," Gibson said. "That gets you thinking out of the box."

Greenberg's administration has continued to work to find candidates to fill department-head vacancies, but the process has been slow.

The parks department, for instance, hasn't had a full-time executive director for more than a year, following an unsuccessful search for a new director. Greenberg appointed Gibson as interim parks director in January 2023.

A Nov. 8 letter from the city lists Gibson's salary as executive director of Metro Parks at $154,294.14, beginning Nov. 13. However, city payroll documents show Gibson has been paid to run the department at least since May.

A contract signed by TARC on Nov. 29 shows the transit agency now pays 75% of that salary.

The Courier Journal also obtained a copy of a contract for $150,000 with a consulting firm to analyze the city's hiring process and its challenges in recruiting. The city couldn't provide an exact number of current vacancies but believes it to be around 26% of positions. Though, the city said the consulting firm's review doesn’t affect director-level roles like Gibson’s.

"The Greenberg administration is actively looking for full-time and dedicated leaders for Louisville Parks and Recreation and TARC," Metro spokesperson Kevin Trager wrote in response to written questions. "These two areas are essential to the success of our city, so recruitment efforts are being done in an intentional and thorough manner to make sure the person selected is the best choice.

"In the interim, the administration is deploying proven leadership strategies across multiple agencies with the support of leaders like Ozzy who focus on specific oversight needs with the help of existing teams."

Right now, Gibson said TARC is "facing a financial cliff," but Parks is "headed definitely in the right direction."

Following the pandemic, ridership dropped, leading to money problems for TARC and transit agencies across the nation.

Starting in January, Gibson's contract shows he devotes 75% of each week to TARC duties.

Who is Ozzy Gibson?

Osburne B. Gibson, 58, graduated from Indiana's Floyd Central High School in 1984 and a local community college in 1987. His first job post-college was as a bread salesman, where he began developing his problem-solving skills, but repetitive jobs tended to bore him, he said.

"Then when I got on the police department, you have to make split-second decisions and you better be right."

Gibson first applied to the city of Louisville in December 1988, before the formation of metro government. Gibson hired on as a police recruit and was officially sworn in on Feb. 16, 1990. His starting pay was $8.33 an hour.

For the next two decades, he worked his way up in the police department.

In March 2016, Gibson retired from LMPD with the title of deputy chief of police and chief of staff, the second in command. By that time, he was directing and managing 1,500 employees and a $155 million annual budget, according to a copy of his resume, obtained by The Courier Journal through an open records request for his city personnel file.

"This is a guy that rose through the ranks and was very capable," Fischer said. "What attracted me to him was he was a guy that got the job done, a very capable administrator and manager and leader."

Four months after his retirement, he received a call from the deputy mayor, asking him to oversee animal services.

In July 2016, Gibson became the director of Louisville Metro Animal Services (LMAS) with an annual salary of $102,000. At the time, LMAS suffered from overcrowding and an outdated facility. Upon his appointment, Gibson said he would "turn this place around, if it kills me."

Two weeks later, he was in a meeting when he learned LMAS would get only $6.5 million to build a new shelter.

"That ain't enough," Gibson said. He pulled out research on new facilities across the country and asked for at least $11.5 million.

We don't have that kind of money, he said he was told.

Gibson looked at his new boss, Doug Hamilton, a former LMPD Police Chief and then the Chief of Public Services, and said, "Man, I'm quitting. I am not going to supervise people in that rathole. No way. You're setting me up for failure."

In 2019, the city unveiled a $11.6 million, 33,000-square-foot facility in Newburg. As LMAS director, Gibson improved the city's live release rate from 35% to 90%.

It was the first of several times he would be appointed to work with the city's animal shelter.

What jobs has Ozzy Gibson done at Louisville Metro?

In all, based on his resume, Gibson has overseen more than a dozen departments in some capacity.

In September 2019, Fischer appointed Gibson as the interim Chief of Public Services, the agency that oversees LMAS. That position also oversees five other departments: Public Works, Facilities and Fleet, Emergency Services, the Department of Corrections and Louisville Fire.

That lasted only four months, until the city hired former FBI special agent Amy Hess, a Louisvillian, as the Chief of Public Services.

Then the pandemic hit.

Gibson was tasked with working with Public Health and Metrosafe, "to coordinate both the internal response ... and how we were going to deal with (COVID-19) while we were keeping the city running," Fischer said.

Gibson next became the chief of the Health Department. Then, when protests erupted in Louisville in June 2020 following the death of Breonna Taylor, according to his resume a reorganization took place and Public Works, Fleet and Facilities and Animal Services were also (again) added to his command.

Those four departments included about 1,000 employees and a combined budget of $156.9 million, according to Gibson's resume.

In November 2021, Gibson was appointed as executive director of the Louisville Riverport Authority, which oversees real estate leasing, real estate purchasing and development, and railroad and maritime operations, according to Gibson's resume.

Gibson's annual base salary for the first year at the authority was $70,000. His contract states his salary could be changed "from time to time by written addendum," but the authority confirmed to The Courier Journal that there are no written addendums to Gibson's contract.

'His heart is with LMAS'

Gibson will again become the director of animal services when a full-time director is hired for TARC, or possibly for the parks department. There is no timeline for those hirings, according to the city.

The announcement of Gibson's latest promotion led Metro Councilwoman Jennifer Chappell to take to social media saying: "Don't get it twisted, I like Ozzy and I think that he is good at implementing processes across various departments, but you're telling me that a city with over 700,000 people in a country with nearly (332 million) people can't find anyone else?"

Chappell issued a statement after her post saying she maintains her feelings of frustration due to a "lack of transparency from the Mayor's administration."

Gibson, who was named to the interim parks director position in January 2023 by Greenberg, oversees more than 120 public parks, as well as golf courses and parkways in Jefferson County.

He was also tasked with implementing the Parks for All plan, which aims to fix inequities in the city's parks and reorganize the parks department. The Parks Alliance of Louisville, which supports 103 parks, developed the plan.

"I think Parks is in a great spot, really," Gibson said." The Park Alliance study put a lot of effort into showing where the weaknesses are that we talk about. You’ve got a good staff over there willing to work. They’ve had a lot of leadership change going back to 2014 or '15."

Sarah Wolff, the director of advocacy and programs for Olmsted Parks, which provides support for 17 of the city's parks, said Olmsted outlined priorities in its budget that were highlighted in the Parks for All plan.

For instance, Elliot Square was identified by the study as one of 30 parks in dire need of capital investment. In October, Olmsted announced a $2.9 million renovation of the park.

"But it is going to be up to some of the other recommendations what the new director also wants to move forward with," Wolff said. "I think that everyone is frustrated with how long it’s taking to find a new leader for Parks."

However, Wolff said that Gibson has provided Olmsted solutions to problems and has supported staff.

"He's always said that his heart is with LMAS," Wolff said. "He's always wanted to go back there."

When Wolff recently rescued an 80-pound box-mastiff-pitbull mix and named him Coco, she sent Gibson photos.

"He was excited," Wolff said. "He knows how much trouble that department has had and he wants to see them succeed and try to get as many animals out the door as they can."

Gibson has donated a portion of every paycheck since 2016 to Friends of Metro Animal Services, totaling more than $2,000.

Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative reporter. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates at @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ozzy Gibson holds many different jobs with Louisville Metro Government