City Public Works Director To Resign

by Thomas Breen

New Haven’s public works director plans to resign on Friday before taking on a new job as the director of public works in Woodbridge.

Michael Siciliano’s upcoming resignation was included in the city’s latest weekly personnel report, which was distributed by email on Saturday by city Personnel Director Susan Baldwin.

The report states that Siciliano’s resignation as the city’s director of public works is effective Friday, July 31.

Siciliano first stepped into the role as the city’s director of parks and public works — when those two departments were still merged — in January 2024. He previously worked as Hamden’s deputy public works director.

In a Monday afternoon phone interview, Siciliano said that he will be starting his new job as Woodbridge’s public works director on Aug. 17.

“That’s a smaller town, a little quieter, a slower pace,” he said about Woodbridge, a New Haven suburb that has a population of around than 9,000 people, compared to New Haven’s roughly 140,000.

Siciliano noted that he worked in Hamden for 26 years. That too was quite the busy job. He’s looking forward to leading a smaller department.

“For a large department, a big crew, there were some great employees here,” he said about his time leading New Haven’s public works department.

Siciliano said that the biggest challenges he faced during his New Haven tenure came during this year’s heavy snowstorms, when he realized “there was nowhere to put the snow.”

“I felt like the fall guy for it. That was a little turn off for me,” he said. “I don’t know if I want to deal with that much more.” He noted that removing large amounts of snow is quite difficult in New Haven, especially when residents clear their cars and throw snow in the street.

Any recommendations for future New Haven public works directors, around snow removal or anything else?

“I’d say just communication with the residents and the alders,” Siciliano said. He also said that the city is in the process of “possibly putting cameras on the plow trucks,” which could allow for better monitoring of their progress clearing streets during snow storms.

Siciliano also noted that he has spent the past two years renting an apartment on Lyon Street in Wooster Square to satisfy the city’s residency requirement for department heads. “That was also a burden,” he said. “I was getting ready to apply for the waiver” — that is, to request an exemption from the residency requirement, but then the Woodbridge job came through. He said he plans to move back to his hometown of Northford when he takes the new Woodbridge job.

“I really appreciate the opportunity and the mayor’s trust,” Siciliano concluded about his time in New Haven. “I did my best for the city. I think I did a good job.”

In an email comment provided to the Independent Monday afternoon, Mayor Justin Elicker noted that the city relies on the public works department “to keep our city streets clean, clear and well-maintained. With over 230 miles of roads and over 20,000 properties that get refuse and recycling pick-ups by Public Works, it’s a tall order with a lot of long days and hard work.”

Elicker said that Siciliano “has been a strong leader and steady hand at the Department of Public Works through a period of transition, as Public Works once again became a standalone city department, and also during one of our most challenging winters in recent memory. Mike also was critical in the department’s efforts adopting and implementing new GIS technology for our annual road surface ratings, which is an important tool we now use to help inform our assessment of road conditions and our prioritization of streets that need to be milled and paved each year.

“I appreciate Mike’s contributions and time with the city of New Haven, and the Town of Woodbridge is lucky to have him.”

Elicker said that an acting director of the city’s public works department “will be identified by the end of the week, while the search for a permanent replacement is underway.”

Siciliano is the third city department head to step down from their post in roughly a month.

Shannon McCue, the city’s budget director, resigned on June 19. Tirzah Kemp, the director of the Department of Community Resilience, resigned on June 26. According to Elicker, both McCue and Kemp left for new job opportunities.

This article has been updated with a comment from Mayor Justin Elicker.