Thomas Breen file photo
McCarthy with Mayor Elicker in January.
New Haven has a new chief administrative officer in former firefighter Justin McCarthy, now that he’s received unanimous approval for the position from the Board of Alders Monday night.
McCarthy, 40, has served in the role in an acting capacity since January 21. Mayor Justin Elicker appointed him to the position after former CAO Regina Rush-Kittle stepped down in late 2024. (While Rush-Kittle had obtained special permission from alders to live outside of the city, McCarthy lives in East Rock with his family.)
The CAO is a senior supervisor within city government, overseeing city departments primarily focused on public safety and infrastructure (specifically: fire, police, the 911 call center, the office of emergency management, engineering, parks, public works, and human resources).
McCarthy spent much of his career in this division of city government. He started as a New Haven firefighter in 2008, first based out of Goffe Street, then moving to Fair Haven and the Hill. He rose through the ranks: serving for a time in the fire union’s leadership, playing a role in supply procurement during the city’s Covid-19 response, and earning a law degree at Quinnipiac. He eventually became assistant fire chief at the start of 2021, a role he occupied until April 2023.
In the spring of 2023, McCarthy retired from the city and took a new job as the assistant fire chief of Greenwich, where he worked until Elicker appointed him as acting CAO in January.
At an Aldermanic Affairs Committee meeting in April, Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez asked McCarthy why he left New Haven for Greenwich.
He responded that he left in order to contend with the grief of losing multiple firefighters during his time as assistant chief.
Early on in his tenure as assistant fire chief, two firefighters — 30-year-old Ricardo Torres and 27-year-old William McMillian — died in the same week.
The task of ensuring that all fire emergencies would continue to be addressed while mourning alongside the entire fire department was “extremely taxing,” McCarthy described. It was hard not to carry that weight home. “It took an extreme toll in my marriage at the time, resulting in my divorce,” he added.
Not even two years later, another firefighter, Thomas Mieles, died in a car crash. After that loss, McCarthy decided, “I needed to separate myself. It was a lot… I reached a point of exhaustion and felt that the time had come to move on.”
McCarthy told the alders that his time at Greenwich “allowed me to decompress, but it did not provide me with the same satisfaction as the city of New Haven.”
Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana advocates for McCarthy's appointment.
Since then, McCarthy got remarried, had a child, and felt a new sense of stability — along with a tug back to the city where he spent most of his career. “This is what I feel is my home,” he said, “and I feel coming back here has been one of the most rewarding things. But I also have a clearer head and a better way of managing stress, going through all those things.”
“I don’t see myself leaving here,” he added. “I left once before. I made the conscious decision to come back.”
He said his goals include building rapport between different departments and ensuring that staff feel appreciated and encouraged to take on leadership roles, among others.
At Monday night’s meeting, Aldermanic Affairs Committee Chair and Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro Santana described McCarthy’s “dedication to New Haven and his desire to continue serving the city he loves.”
The board voted in unison to approve his appointment.