Victoria Parks and Recreation has a new director this week.

Jason Alfaro stepped down from the role to pursue “his passion as an arborist,” Victoria City Manager Jesús Garza said in a statement Tuesday. Kimberly Zygmant, the assistant director under Alfaro, will serve as interim director.

Garza said the city will search for its next Parks and Recreation director with the help of an executive recruitment firm.

“It will take a few months to go through a search process from beginning to end,” Garza said. “My goal is to hire a new Parks and Recreation director by the end of the calendar year.

Alfaro, a Victoria native, was hired to lead the Parks and Recreation department in May 2020. He had previously worked for the cities of Bastrop and Kingsville.

Earlier this month, he announced that two Riverside Park amenities, the duck pond and dog park, would both open to the public later this year.

Construction on the new dog park is expected to be finished next month, Alfaro said during a city council meeting July 18. Renovations to the duck pond, which began in September 2022, are scheduled to be completed in October.

When he joined the Parks and Recreation department three years ago, Alfaro told the Advocate he wanted to lead the development of a new master plan. The city finalized a plan for the department in 2021.