1. Assistant to city manager position about to be vacant
Anna Foster | Posted: Thursday, April 11, 200212:00 am
Redmond Jones, the assistant to the city manager for the past two years, will be leaving at the end of this week to make room for the next
student of city management, as the city manager's office continues to develop its internship program to give prospective city managers
experience in the field.
City Manager Mark Watson said Jones, 34, would continue to work for the city for a few weeks aft er that as a consultant on the projects
he worked on, especially as the city finishes the details on Jones' main project, the new Social Security Administration building.
Watson said the city hadalready begun takingapplications and had notifiedseveral colleges of the program.
"I've made it eligible for folks in the final stages of completingdegrees in public management or people who've been out for one or two
years and need some experience," he said, with a new person to be selected by early or mid-May. "The position has always been one I've
viewed as a preparatory one for aspiringcity managers."
Watson said he was tryingto pattern the program after one in Wichita Falls he went through that gives new graduates two year s'
experience in budgets and special projects in city management.
Jones said that alongwith the conclusion of his major project, the SSA building, which required negotiations with the General Services
Agency, the SPJST and a private consultingfirm, he was also wrapping up the other projects he had been involvedwith, such as a code
enforcement tack force.
Jones, a graduate of the University of Kansas' city management master's degree program, said he was still investigating job o pportunities
with a few Texas cities, adding that he would like to still be involved in some of his Temple activities if his next jobis close enough.
Watson said he felt Jones was ready for whatever his next challenge is.
"He's at that stage where he needs to take the next step -- he's ready," Watson said. "He's done a great job for us, particularly with the
east side community planning, code enforcement andthe Social Security project. Like anything, time really goes fast.
"We want to wish him well, and help him out where we can," Watson said.