Charlie Duggan, the city manager who led the City of Auburn through the Great Recession and years of growth, is planning to retire on March 1. He wants to get out more, experience a new place and enjoy life, but many are sad to see him go.
"Charlie has done a great job as city manager, and certainly we're going to miss him," said Auburn Mayor Bill Ham. "But this is a great opportunity for him."
The Auburn City Council selected Duggan as the city manager back in 2006, and he has served as the city manager ever since. Ham may be more of a household name in Auburn, but Duggan has worked behind the scenes as the top executive over the city's many administrative departments.
Duggan has been indispensable over the last 10 years in improving the city's public K-12 education and polishing the city's finances, which resulted in a credit upgrade to AA+, in addition to overseeing economic development that brought numerous new businesses and industries to the area, Ham said.
"The Economic Development Department, working under Charlie, has done a tremendous job to help bolster that great financial position that we're in," Ham said. "Through the years that Charlie has been the city manager, I have been very appreciative to him for the great working relationship that we've had."
Duggan graduated from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in applied physics in 1990. His interest in public service and government came after his undergraduate experience.
At the University, while working toward an MBA, Duggan took public administration courses, and joined the city's Parks and Recreation Department in 1991. Fifteen years later he would become the full-time city manager.
He transferred into the information technology department in 1998, becoming assistant city manager in 2005 before taking over the city manager position the year after in 2006. Overall, Duggan has spent 28 years working for the City of Auburn.
Duggan said he thinks now would be the best time for him to finish his time with the city.
"We've finished a lot of large projects," Duggan said. "While we have a lot of things going on, they are well in hand by the staff. Now, it's just time for me to start a new adventure."
Leading the city through the Great Recession from 2008–2009 and its aftermath while also improving the city's financial standing and bringing positive changes to the city school system are some of Duggan's proudest achievements, he said.
"Being able to do things like making sure out school system stays very strong and helping their funding, along with all of the public works projects we've done over the past 10 years have really benefited the citizens," Duggan said.
Many of the projects Duggan is most proud of supervising — like sidewalk improvements, installing new street lighting and ensuring a budget surplus — often go unnoticed by residents after their completion, and Duggan said he likes it that way.
"There are many projects that most people take for granted," Duggan said. "I hope they do, because what we want to do is make the city function so they don't have to worry about us, so they can go about their lives."
Ham said he hopes the City Council will appoint an interim city manager in January, who will officially begin serving when Duggan retirement becomes effective on March 1. After that, Ham hopes to have a new city manager selected within six months.
The Marin Municipal Water District, a large public agency that provides water in Marin County, California, has offered Duggan a job as their Administrative Services Division Manager. He will be over human resources, information technology, water conservation and finance.
"I'm going to explore as much as I can of places like Yosemite and the city of San Francisco," he said. "I'm going to try to make sure I have a good work-life balance. I think it's going to be good. I just have to make sure, on the weekends, that I get up and get out."
"I'm excited. There will be a lot of interesting places to explore and fantastic things to see."
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