Williams leaving Loveland in pretty good shape

LOVELAND – For a guy with a red rag in his back pocket, Don Williams has done pretty well for himself – and for the citizens of Loveland.

When he retires after eight years as city manager on Sept. 16, he’ll be leaving a city in good shape, with a national reputation and several new projects under way.

Assistant City Manager Rod Wensing will be acting city manager until the new manager, still to be selected by the Loveland City Council, begins work somewhere around Nov. 1. Two candidates remain under consideration: Bill Cahill, 54, assistant city manager of Merced, Calif., and Matt LeCerf, 33, city manager of Maryville, Mo.

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Williams, 63, said he has not been involved in the search for his successor, nor did he want to be. What he’s looking forward to is moving back to Missouri to be close to his grandchildren – and fishing.

Williams first came west from the Kansas City, Mo., fire department in the 1970s to work for the Regional Transportation District in Denver. He was transportation manager during the development of the 16th Street Mall, and recalls the challenges of putting the first electric buses on the downtown street along with conventional diesel-powered models.

“It was the dance of the elephants,” Williams recalled. “The electrics were so slow, the regular buses wound up right behind them.”

Williams moved to Aspen, where he worked for the Roaring Fork Transit District until 1986, when he began to manage the Loveland city vehicle fleet. He was selected as city manager in 2002, and has now served in the position longer than his seven predecessors.

“I discovered I had a passion for it,” Williams said.

One of the biggest projects that Williams worked on during his tenure as manager was the development of Centerra on the city’s eastern edge. That included not only the office and commercial buildings that rapidly sprouted on former farmland owned by Chad and Troy McWhinney, but also the new location for the Larimer County Fairgrounds from downtown to what is now known as The Ranch. The Promenade Shops at Centerra added  enormously to the retail base of the Loveland economy, and The Ranch is now home to the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, the largest facility of its kind in Northern Colorado.

Those projects required Williams to work closely with his counterparts in the other cities in the region, as well as Larimer County, on potentially contentious issues. Although there were lots of possibilities for disagreement, everyone who worked with him said his practical, no-nonsense approach was one of his greatest assets.

Pragmatic attitude

“Don approached everything with a pragmatic attitude,´ said Frank Lancaster, Larimer County Manager. “He took the approach that, as managers, it was our job to work out the details and keep the politics out of it. He would work to put the difficulties behind us and get it done.”

Lancaster is about to begin his 30th year with the county, his 16th as manager. He also came up through the ranks of city government, starting as horticulturialist for the city of Cheyenne before joining Larimer County, and has worked with about eight Loveland managers in his day.

He said the most difficult issue to come up between the county and Loveland was moving the old fairgrounds to The Ranch. He praised Williams for seeing both sides of the controversy.

“He was a supporter of the project, but he knew the citizens had an attachment to the old location,” Lancaster said. “It didn’t fit where it was anymore, but Don worked hard to make sure it stayed in Loveland. And I think they’ve done a wonderful job with the park on the old site, too.”

Centerra posed a challenge for the city of Fort Collins as well, but as competition for the existing retail base. Darin Atteberry became city manager of Fort Collins about the same time Williams took over in Loveland, and they have worked through those issues together. His list of adjectives for Williams included responsive, accessible, good to work with and a straight shooter. “He lets you know how he feels, but more importantly, he lets you know how Loveland feels on the issues,” Atteberry said. “That’s refreshing in management. I’ve always admired how direct Don can be, and how he gets right to the heart of any matter.”

Saying that the two have worked on “many, many projects together” over the years, Atteberry praised the way the two cities have cooperated on the manager and staff level, even when their respective city councils may have been in disputes. He pointed to the way in which he and Williams and Lancaster stay in contact during emergency management situations.

“It usually has to do with snowfall,” he said. “When we’re all together on a conference call, Don is always very collected and precise, thinking through the situation. His transportation background is always helpful when it comes to talking about emergency equipment and snowplows.”

Roy Otto, city manager of Greeley, worked with Williams on both attempts to create a Regional Transportation Authority, and most recently the two had to deal with the move of Agrium Inc. from Greeley to Centerra, with a little incentive help from the city council.

Despite the difficult times – or maybe especially in difficulty times – Otto said he appreciates Williams’ dry sense of humor, and says his presence at the monthly meetings of the region’s managers will be missed.

“He has a practical sense of problem solving, a refreshing perspective,” Otto said. “He was sort of the sage of our meeting, always willing to have a good, open discussion with no nonsense.”

For his part, Williams says he is happiest that during his tenure, a real sense of regionalism has grown throughout Northern Colorado.

“Everybody at the staff level gets it,” he said. “Boundaries on a map don’t mean anything to potential employers, and it’s all about jobs for all of Northern Colorado. I think we’re doing a pretty good job of respecting each other in the area of economic development.”

He is proudest that he is leaving Loveland with the city in very good shape – “not that I had that much to do with it, but I feel good about the role I’ve played.”

His fellow managers wish him well and are happy that he will be able to spend time with his grandkids. And fish.