Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman Gets 10-Year Contract Extension, Raise

Brian Zimmerman, the well-liked executive who helped blossom the Metroparks system since 2010, last week was given an extension to spearhead the park system for another ten years. The CEO will also get another raise, with a new base salary of $340,000 and annual raises up to 3.95% along with annual bonuses of up to 10% of his salary.

In a statement Thursday, Bruce Rinker, the president of the board of park commissioners, lauded Zimmerman for his efforts to bring Metroparks onto the national stage.

In 2016 and 2021, the system grabbed the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park Management by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, often seen as the gold standard of outdoor plaudits. 

"[Zimmerman] has helped establish the Cleveland Metroparks as one of the most recognized and highly regard park systems in the nation," Rinker said in press release. The contract renewal, Rinker added "ensures his commitment to and stewardship of Cleveland Metroparks for years to come."

While the parks system has received regional accolades for its continued growth —now tallying a combined 24,350 acres—it has also received pushback on certain projects, including NIMBY public comment for a Solon rail trail and more recent anger over the immiment displacement of residents in Collinwood.

In February, the 139 residents of the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park decried the Western Reserve Land Conservancy's decision to turn the land over to the Metroparks for a future park. Residents told Scene then that they have 12 to 15 months to vacate.

But not all of the system's expansion efforts have been met with ire. Its planned trail connectors, like the proposed Euclid Creek Greenway and a link between Downtown and University Circle, have been roundly praised.

Zimmerman's embrace of the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Strategy, much better known as CHEERS, has won him the approval of east side wards, which have been notoriously left out of Metroparks' development. It will soon take over management of the southern portion of Gordon Park, 48 acres between East 72nd and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, if all goes smoothly.

Zimmerman's 10-year extension comes in tandem with the Metroparks' Second Century of Stewardship Initiative, the system's third strategic plan during Zimmerman's tenure.

Promising to "conserve, connect, welcome, engage, sustain and innovate," the plan aims to work off the city and county's mission to amplify the importance of Cleveland's lakefront in years to come.

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