Telegraph file photo Nick Caggiano, who is leaving his post as superintendent of the Parks & Recreation Department after 20 years, surveys a map during a 2019 Telegraph interview.

NASHUA – Fellow city employees and elected officials, along with the countless number of associates with whom he has collaborated over the years on a wide range of projects, are seeking out Superintendent of Parks & Recreation Nick Caggiano these days to wish him well in what he calls his “new chapter.”

What that chapter is has yet to be cast in stone, according to Caggiano, but what is official is his announcement that Friday, Sept. 25, will be his final day as head of the department.

“It’s been 20 years … it’s time,” Caggiano said Tuesday. “I’m ready for a new chapter.”

The majority of those 20 years with the city, which began under the tutelage of longtime parks-recreation leader June Caron, were in supervisory roles that eventually landed Caggiano the title of superintendent.

Caggiano, 59, looks back with pride over his and his employees’ accomplishments over the years.

“This department definitely moved in the right direction,” he said, adding that working in the recreation field “was my goal since I was in high school.”

That prompted Caggiano, a native of Hartford, Connecticut, to major in recreational land management in college, from which he graduated with a degree in 1980.

He then embarked on a career in lawn construction and maintenance, working for ChemLawn, now known as TruGreen, in the Hartford area.

In 1986, Caggiano was among TruGreen employees deployed to New Hampshire to select sites and open new TruGreen offices.

About a dozen years later, a new opportunity caught Caggiano’s eye: the position of associate manager of grounds maintenance had come open in Nashua.

He applied, successfully, and went to work under Caron, whose title at the time was associate manager of recreation.

Caggiano was hired to replace the late Francis “Frank” Dorsey Jr., who was Superintendent of Parks when parks and recreation were separate departments.

Upon Caron’s retirement in 2006, after 41 years of service, the two entities merged to form the current Parks & Recreation Department and placed under the Division of Public Works.

“Nothing official,” Caggiano responded when asked if he’s got his eye on something.

“I have a few irons in the fire … I’ll find something,” he added.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.