A familiar face is now leading Overland Park’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Bryan Toben has served as the deputy director of the department since 2020 and will now lead a staff of 91 full-time and hundreds of part-time and seasonal employees.
“Bryan’s deep roots in our community, coupled with his 28 years of dedicated service to the department, provide an unparalleled level of institutional knowledge,” said Assistant City Manager Kate Gunja. “Bryan has established strong relationships with residents and staff, ensuring a seamless transition and continued success for the department.”
Toben has served the Overland Park community full-time since 2001. Prior to serving as deputy director, Toben held various other positions at the City, including as interim director of the department, assistant director of recreation services, aquatic supervisor and facility technician.
“Overland Park is my community. I’m honored to serve this community, and so proud of the work we do in OP,” said Toben. “This is an opportunity to have a little more impact on Overland Park’s wonderful parks, pools and destination facilities, and I look forward to getting started.”
Most recently, Toben led projects to build LongHouse Visitor Center at the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, assisted in updates to the popular Sykes/Lady Overland Park Golf Club clubhouse, and to remove and replace thousands of diseased ash trees in Overland Park’s greenways. He is currently leading projects to build Clock Tower Landing, scheduled to open in the spring of 2026 and facilitated neighborhood engagement and planning on the new Bietigheim-Bissingen Park, scheduled to open later this year.
We look forward to his continued contributions in this new capacity.