February 28, 2013

One of the hardest parts of growing up is when things change.  On March 1, 2013, for the first time that I can remember, my dad will not be a City Manager.  February 28 is his last day as he retires from public service to Port Orange after over 28 years.

Dad decided to leave Texarkana, Arkansas, where he'd been City Manager, in 1984.  Picked up the whole family and moved us all to a tiny little town just south of Daytona Beach.  I'd never heard of it, and wasn't thrilled to be leaving the only life I'd known.  (Along with leaving my friends Alan, Jon and Jamie.)  But it was time to go, and go we did.

Port Orange back then was about 28,000 people.  It's now over 56,000.  A lot of what is here now wasn't there then. But dad saw something.  A town that wanted to grow, and had a lot about it that was impressive.  The people were nice, and it was a real community.

Well, we stayed a lot longer than I thought we would.  I left in 1994 to go to DC, and haven't lived back there since. But the one thing that didn't change was that my dad was the City Manager.  Well, tomorrow that won't be the case.

You see, I'm probably more like my father than I at first believed.  Most of Dad's family lives near each other, but he moved halfway across the country.  He took a chance, just like I did when I went to college and then joined the Foreign Service.  I readily admit that one of the reasons I bid on jobs is because I know my parents would like to visit these places.  London, Luxembourg, South Africa, Suriname. (Well, maybe not Suriname.  But they loved visiting, and my staff liked them so much when I left post for the last time they packed gifts for my parents with me.)

My dad has given everything to the city, and he definitely deserves the rest he will now get.  Most of our vacations were arranged around budget season or something or other to do with the city.  Dad would always make the events we were participating in when I was growing up with my two brothers.  He might have to go back to the office when it was over, but he was there.  Every soccer game, baseball game, musical concert: it didn't matter he was there.  Hopefully I can be that kind of dad to my kids.

Dad also thought of the City as one big family.  The entire time he was City Manager our phone number and address was in the phone book.  He felt that he worked for the tax payers, and that they should have access to him whenever they wanted.  This lead to numerous late night phone calls and a couple of death threats, but that was something he always said came with the job.

(Short digression.  When I worked in London, I was the Consular Duty officer over Christmas.  My Mother and Father both were in town, and it was the day after Christmas.  We were about to go see Mamma Mia! on stage and were having dinner together in Convent Garden.  I got a phone call from the Regional Security Officer telling me that someone had called the Embassy and said they were going to kill me.  Seeing I was a bit shaken after the call, my parents asked what was wrong.  I told them, and my dad's response always makes me smile: "The first time is always the hardest.")

Well there have been some trying times with my father and the city, and I'm sure there are people glad to see him go.  However, I firmly believe one of the reasons Port Orange is the city it is today is because of my father.  He's one of my heroes in life, and one of the reasons I do what I do for a living.  I'm very proud of what he's accomplished, and hope he has a nice long retirement to enjoy his grandkids.  He deserves it.