BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Staff Writer
LAKE BUTLER — There is a familiar face at Lake Butler City Hall these days in the role of the interim city manager selected by the city commissioners to assist in running the city for the next several months and help navigate the financial maze created by previous city manager Dale Walker.
Former City Manager Richard Tillis was the only one of the two applicants for the position that met the criteria set by the commission that the candidate must be a resident of Union County. He served as city manager for 11 years and brings to the position a knowledge of the city and its residents that only a local person could have.
He also brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in municipal administration, as well as understanding the problems the city has and dealing with the funding (particularly grants) the city has acquired to help deal with them. The commission voted 3-1 to accept Tillis’ application (with Mayor Annette Redman casting the dissenting vote) and then voted unanimously to compensate Tillis at a rate of $75 per hour for no more than 40 hours a week. The city attorney is drafting a hiring contract, and the commission will most likely discuss and vote on that at the regular April 21 meeting.
Before serving Lake Butler the first time, Tillis worked as county manager for Richmond County, North Carolina, for eight years, city manager for Rockingham, North Carolina, for four years and public works director for Orange Park for five years. Now he says he is back to help the city he cared for in the past, but only for the interim until matters are cleared up and a new, permanent city manager can be hired. He estimates that he will only be needed as interim manager for a period of four to six months and says he has no interest in applying for the permanent position.
“I love retirement,” Tillis said. “I made it very clear that I was applying to be considered on a temporary basis to get this mess sorted out. I said that I would stay long enough to do that and, possibly, assist the commission in creating some new policies that will hold management more accountable but I am not interested on returning on a permanent basis. ”
When he left the city manager position, Tillis, who is a certified commercial building contractor, started a contracting business, which he closed in 2012. He was totally retired when he took the interim position with the city last week.
The commission offered the position to Tillis at a special March 7 meeting called to consider all applications for the interim position and make a selection. The commission voted to accept his application and he was hired. He was on board at city hall the morning of March 6. As of March 13, he had already met with commissioners, City Attorney John Maines, Richard Powell of Powell, Jones and Associates to whom he provided about 10 items they needed to complete the forensic audit ordered by the commission.
He plans on meeting soon with Mittauer, the engineers who work for the city, to get up to speed on grants, sewer lines, lift stations, the ground storage tank and the new wastewater treatment plant. He said he is also working on tracking the ARPA funds and seeing how they have been handled. Given the time frame he is working under, he is prepared to create the budget for the next fiscal year, based upon the findings of the audit.
“It will probably be a month or two before we see the results of the special forensic audit,” Tillis said. “It would not surprise me if we receive it at the same time we get the regular annual audit, which is also being worked on. ”
Tillis said he will also see that the commission will receive the expected documents, with any explanatory information necessary, at every meeting.
“This month will be better than it has been and by April everything should be back on track and has it should be,” Tillis said.
Tillis said he has his work cut out for him and is, on a daily basis, wading through several years of financial and commission records, trying to see where the city stands financially. He said he is hopeful of having everything on track so the new city manager, when a permanent one is found, will walk into the job without problem.
