RUMORS PONDER: City Manager's next steps

Could Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins "unretire"? 

 

COLUMBIA, 1/7/11  (Beat Byte) --  Could Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins actually "unretire?" 

 

That question sits atop several rumors swirling around his potential next steps after an announcement last year that he would step down this March.   Anticipating such a flip flop, "Mayor Robert McDavid is 'holding' Watkins' retirement papers," sources tell the Columbia Heart Beat.  Personal considerations may prompt the City Manager to change his mind, those sources detailed.    

 

But other rumors have Watkins (left) taking a job at the University of Missouri, where former Columbia police chief Randy Boehm ended up and where other politicos have hung out post-retirement shingles in the past. 

 

Details on Watkins' alleged new MU job are equally sparse, but that's the nature of a rumor.  "I hear he'll be the new University Sewer director," one wag surmised, noting Watkins role in keeping MU's sewer rates down. 

 

Watkins is a good leader, one high-level city staffer said.  But if he stays, he needs to communicate better.  "His inability, or perhaps refusal, to communicate" has been a singular problem with his leadership, the staffer -- who has also heard the "unretire" rumor -- explained.   

 

Mr. Watkins and members of his senior staff are unlikely to confirm, deny, or even comment on his post-retirement plans, especially to this publication, so suffice it to say the public likely won't know what he plans until it happens.