City manager Watkins to retire

Bill Watkins said Tuesday that he will be retiring in March after five years as city manager and more than 20 years as a city employee.
“For a number of personal reasons, last night I informed the City Council I intend to retire in March,” Watkins said at a press conference in City Hall. “I assure you this decision was not made in haste.”
Watkins’ announcement comes after a second year of tough budgeting decisions. He waited to make his announcement until the council approved next year’s budget, which it did last month. But he has been considering retirement for several months now, he said, because wants to “slow down.”
Mayor Bob McDavid thanked Watkins for his years of service to the city and said the city will hire a an executive search firm within a month to begin a search for a new city manager. Both internal and external candidates will be considered, he said.
“Change is difficult, but change is inevitable,” McDavid said. “This is not a surprise. He told me four months ago this was likely to occur.”
Watkins succeeded Ray Beck as city manager in January 2006 after spending the last 10 years as assistant city manager for the city. He began working for Columbia in 1988, serving as Columbia’s economic development director and president of Regional Economic Development, Inc. until 1995.
Before coming to Columbia, Watkins served as city manager for Newton Falls, Ohio, and Wood River, Ill. He also worked as vice president of the Economic Development Division for the Springfield, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce from 1985 to 1988.
Columbia went through one of its most dramatic periods of growth during Watkins’ tenure with the city. He helped the city land big employers, such as Quaker Oats, while economic development director, and most recently helped craft the IBM deal.
He has led the charge over the last couple of years to develop shovel ready sites, such as Ewing Industrial Park, which became the state’s first “certified site” after it developed the program.