Cottonwood’s new city manager, Scotty Douglas, took over on May 15, replacing interim city manager Rudy Rodriguez, who is the current deputy city manager.
Douglas said one of the top priorities is to become familiar with the organization and the community at Cottonwood itself. He will judge the health of the organization and familiarize himself with policies and procedures, the direction chosen by the council, and the city’s strategic plans.
“My philosophy is that everything is tied to strategic planning,” said Douglas. “A strategic plan is a guiding document that connects the council, the community, and city officials, and how those things will be done to achieve the direction of the council.”
Noting that the city manager position had been vacant for several months, Douglas said the move was “to come in and assess the staff and management, assess how effective we are, It’s an opportunity to set expectations and learn what they need.” from me. ”
One of Douglas’ specific goals is to build a tight-knit team. He wants to assess the overall needs of the community and how the community grows next year.
“This is an opportunity to really get to know people at different levels within the community, find out what’s important to them, and tie that into a strategic plan,” Douglas said. “The more we know about the council, its direction, and our communities, the more aligned we can be in serving them.”
Douglas discussed some of the city’s current projects, including the new Cottonwood Municipal Center, which is intended to be the city’s one-stop-shop town hall. He also noted the opportunity to continue expanding Oldtown Cottonwood.
“We have great opportunities for tourism here, and we continue to expand our opportunities for economic development, while ensuring that we maintain and balance the lifestyle that many of our long-term residents have experienced. said Douglas.
Douglas also addressed the need for housing and said the focus would be on housing.
Douglas, who previously served as deputy mayor of Modesto, Calif., a city of 214,000, has worked with Stanislaus County to build a 186-bed shelter and other interim and long-term social projects. Participated in efforts to build service infrastructure. He helped develop the city’s first epidemic-fighting strategy, including the creation of the Modesto City Council’s Eradication of Plague Advisory Committee to advise Modesto City Council on dealing with illegal dumping, graffiti, vandalism and abandoned vehicles.
Another of his projects was a smart city strategy that would coordinate the technology and data collected by the city and ensure all systems were interoperable.
Douglas said looking out the window at Old Town reminded him of a master plan for a downtown parking lot he worked on in Modesto.
“I think there is a real opportunity for the Old Town and other parts of the city to look at parking from a holistic approach to accommodate new developments in the Old Town and other parts of the city.” said Douglas.
Douglas had his sights set on Cottonwood for about a year and a half. He lived in Chandler before returning to California, but wanted to return with his wife to Arizona to be with his family. He loves the outdoors and finds his family integrated into the community. Her 19-year-old son is also moving in with her and is considering attending Yavapai University.
“Every community has its challenges, but here as a team there is nothing we cannot overcome,” said Douglas. “We have a very strong team. I am very impressed with the insight, level of dedication and professionalism of the staff here. .”
