Passing of the torch: Clearwater city manager reflects on a 20-year career

Passing of the torch: Clearwater city manager reflects on a 20-year career

2022-07-14T08:18:43-04:00August 5th, 2021|Tampa Bay|

Writer: Felipe Rivas

Bill horne2 min read August 2021After guiding the city of Clearwater through 20 years’ worth of budget seasons, hurricanes, the Great Recession and a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, revered City Manager Bill Horne is ready for the next chapter of his career after more than five decades of combined service to his country and local community. 

In this passing-of-the-torch moment, the incoming city manager, who has yet to be hired, will inherit a city in the midst of a momentous transformation years in the making, which occurred under Horne’s watch.

A 27-year military career prepared Horne to become Clearwater’s city manager, Horne told Invest:. it was during his time as an officer that he was able to hone and perfect a management style underpinned by situational awareness, adaptability to a changing environment, and the ability to “interact with a multitude of people, personalities, and different backgrounds.”

“When I came to local government I had that experience supporting me. One of the first things I did was to recognize that I was now in a different environment. The military culture, although diverse, is very homogenous in many ways. Coming into local government I had to understand the nature of the organization and its people, rather than coming in saying, this is how we are going to run the railroad, which is not a good way to start off. While taking the time to understand the nature of a local, public government organization, I was very much in a listening mode and in a more deliberate mode in terms of decision-making, while being sensitive to the different personalities that I was operating with,” Horne said. 

A collaborative leadership approach focused on attentively listening to city staff and City Council has been key in generating support and motivation throughout city organization, Horne noted. “This requires meticulous work, attention, conversation and pressed me to be more democratic in my style because the input of the people carrying out the work is needed to excel in local government. To be successful and provide consistent, effective, and efficient services it is critical to involve the staff that is performing the work. Also, showing continuous appreciation for city staff and acknowledging their hard work has been a major component of successful city management. Staff appreciate being recognized and it makes them feel valued. During my career, realizing how important these factors are and incorporating them as a normal part of my leadership and management style is what I have tried to do,” Horne said.  

The pandemic, and subsequent economic crisis, fostered an environment where even the most battle-hardened leaders were left without a blueprint to follow. As such, constant communications with city and county leaders were needed to navigate through this changing environment.

“It has been 100 years since we have had a pandemic. We recognized that there was no script for dealing with this event and had to create a response that best allows us to deal with the situation and protect us. In Clearwater, we created an intragovernmental group that met everyday from last March until January of this year and met every three days after that. Now we meet as needed. That focused set of daily meetings and assessing the information helped us create a framework that allowed us to manage our government operations as many of them needed to be functional day in and day out such as public utilities and the police and fire departments. Throughout the pandemic experience, we have found a level of learning within our organization that will sustain us moving forward in the event of another pervasive event such as a virus,” he said.    

More than 1½ years since the pandemic made its way stateside, optimism abounds in a strong recovery for the city as it remains in sound financial health despite the ongoing challenges. 

“It is important to remember that the pandemic has a different economic impact than the Great Recession. The Great Recession really affected our financial health and we had to make adjustments to stay within our revenues from the government perspective. The pandemic was different. We did not have the adverse economic impact that we experienced during the Great Recession. The city’s finances remain strong,” Horne said. “Our 2020-2021 budget worked despite the pandemic’s impact. For the 2021-2022 budget, we do not anticipate any financial strains. The city has emerged from this cycle in good shape.”

As a pillar of the Tampa Bay region, the city of Clearwater continues to work on its revitalization efforts galvanized by the work of the Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Largely focused on bringing investments into the Downtown area, the $64 million Imagine Clearwater campaign is setting the stage for the next wave of live, work and play offerings expected to come to the city. With several properties available for bid, the CRA, council and community are laser focused on setting the foundation to attract development, businesses, and new residents into the city. 

“While there is a lot of economic activity occurring in Tampa Bay, Clearwater is poised as the next opportunity for business growth. The city is primed for investment and generating activity across different industries. I would encourage those business owners to add Clearwater to their list. The CRA is focused on marketing the downtown and engaging business owners. There is enough commerce in the Tampa Bay region to support everyone. We want to be able to offer a new and additional opportunity to experience what it is like to be in the Clearwater area. The Imagine Clearwater plan will help in this regard. Once completed, Imagine Clearwater will offer a dynamic downtown, family-friendly environment with top-of-the-line restaurants, entertainment and lots of buzz,” Horne said.

Offering some advice to the new city manager, Horne touted the job as one of the best in the nation. “They will lead one of the best local government organizations anywhere. The new city manager will lead an organization that during the last 20 years has gotten better at delivering municipal services. The new person will not come into an organization that is in trouble or in crisis.  They are facing a community and organization that will provide the opportunity to make it even better. That’s what I will say to my replacement,” Horne said. 

City Manager Horne circled Sept. 3 as his official retirement date and is looking forward to some well-deserved rest. “The first thing I will do is to rest and relax a bit. I am actively involved in a faith community and I look forward to serving more in that capacity which excites me everyday. I am also contemplating the possibility of being an adjunct professor at one of the great local universities in the field of public administration. I would like to motivate young students contemplating a career in public administration. I’d like to share my experience as a public administrator both at the military and civilian level and highlight what a rewarding career it is. I also want to make sure that I put in an appropriate amount of golfing time as well as travel and check off some bucket-list destinations,” he said. 

For more information, visit:  

myclearwater.com/InvestClearwater

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