Bauer reflects on time as Holton's city manager

In his six years as Holton’s city manager, Bret Bauer has been proud to oversee a city government organization that has cut its debts in half, worked to improve its infrastructure and attracted economic growth in its commercial areas and industrial park.

But for Bauer, whose last day on the job here is Thursday, the best thing about being in Holton was being a part of Holton.

“This community and this city organization are right at the top,” said Bauer, who has served as Holton’s city manager since July of 2010. “Being a part of this community and having it welcome me the way it did, and the way it’s continued to welcome me over the past six years, and also this organization — a city manager can’t ask for anything more than that.”

At the end of the day on Thursday, Bauer will pack up and leave to join the city government of Gun Barrel City, Texas, a community of about 5,600 located about 55 miles southeast of Dallas. He’s looking forward to his new career in Texas, even though it means saying goodbye to the community he’s called home for six years.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “Working here, I’ve made a lot of good friends, and we’ve accomplished a lot. It’ll be a sad day to leave those friendships behind. But it’ll be exciting to look forward to the next chapter.”

According to the Athens Review newspaper in Athens, Texas, Gun Barrel City Mayor Dennis Baade noted Bauer’s “proven track record in economic development, fiscal responsibility and managing high-quality projects… We believe his energy, experience and commitment to the professional management of our city will be a great asset to our citizens, business owners and other stakeholders.”

On the economic development side, Bauer has overseen improvements at the city’s industrial park, including reconstruction of its roads — a task designed to attract more business to the park. He’s also happy to have seen some businesses expand, and he believes that those expansions will prompt more expansions in the long run.

“You’re going to see some interest around that new Walmart store,” he said. “There are certain businesses across the country that follow Walmart, and over the next few years, with the help of some of those businesses, I think that area around the new Walmart is going to change.”

Bauer’s record in fiscal responsibility has also been demonstrated in the city’s halving of its indebtedness since his arrival. In 2010, the city’s total debt was $12.2 million, with $4.3 million of that in general obligation bonds and nearly $1.3 million in revenue bonds.

At the time of its approval last August, the city’s budget noted total indebtedness of $6.4 million, with $2.1 million of that in general obligation bonds — and a zero balance in revenue bonds. Bauer and members of the commission have noted that the city’s “in a better position” because of its willingness to be “thrifty” and continue to pay down those debts.

Bauer has also overseen implementation of the half-cent sales tax passed by Holton voters in October of 2013, designed to fund infrastructure improvements — most notably piece-by-piece replacement of the city’s aging clay-tile sewer line pipe system. But there are still a few things he would have liked to have gotten to, he said.

Two of those things, he noted, stemmed from “a couple of directives that were given to us by the city commission” — a feasibility study for the spillway at Prairie Lake and how to approach improvements at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“We wanted to know whether we should be looking at updating and approving what we have, or if it’s so old that it would be better to tear it down, start from scratch and build a smaller, more efficient plant, kind of like what was done with the water treatment plant a few years back,” Bauer said of the latter.

Bauer submitted his resignation to the commission in April, giving the city a 60-day window to find a replacement, and at present, the search is continuing. As for whoever steps in to take his place as Holton’s city manager, Bauer has one piece of advice for him or her: Be as open and as welcoming to the community as it will be to you.

“Those are words I try to live by,” he said. “If you come from a modest, humble point of view, most people are going to see that and feel that vibe from you, and they’ll treat you the same.”