During its meeting on June 12, the Clarkdale Town Council approved a change to Town Manager Gayle Mabery’s employment contract. Her two-year contract was set to expire on March 30. However, the council unanimously voted to extend Mabery’s contract to July 1, 2019.
When her contract is up, Mabery will retire after more than 20 years on the job.
Mabery first took over the job of town manager on March 24, 1998. Before ascending to the position, she had spent seven years working for the town of Clarkdale. Mabery started as an intern while attending Northern Arizona University. Since then, she has held her position of town manager longer than any member of the Town Council, and she entered into office six years before Mayor Doug Von Gausig was elected mayor in 2004.
“For 21 years we’ve had one of the best town managers in the state of Arizona, a woman who could have gone to any city in Arizona or the country, but chose to work here because that’s where her heart is,” Von Gausig said of Mabery. “Nobody on the council could say enough about her. She just is Clarkdale.”
While the change to Mabery’s contract occurred on June 12, Mabery has been discussing plans to leave her position with members of the Town Council for more than a year. Mabery said she is choosing to retire in 2019 because she will qualify for Arizona’s retirement benefits in the coming year. She said she hopes to retire at a time when the transition to a new town manager will not interfere too much with the town of Clarkdale running smoothly.
“I wanted to make sure I gave them ample notice so we can have a smooth transition when we have to find a replacement,” Mabery said. “It is important to me. It’s more than just a job. It’s my hometown and my community.”
Von Gausig said that the Town Council is still in the beginning stages of recruiting a new town manager to replace Mabery. The town expects to hire a professional recruiting firm to handle the search, with bids from different firms for the job beginning at the next Town Council meeting.
“We’re looking for someone that can take us to the next level in town management and professionalism. We have to be careful not to look for another [Mabery],” Von Gausig said in regard to the search. “She grew up in Clarkdale. Her whole heart is in Clarkdale. You’re not going to find that again.”
Even though Mabery will no longer be town manager, she has expressed a desire to stay involved in the government of Clarkdale, and to help out on occasion when her advice can be useful.
“I have a lot invested in city management as a profession, and there are a lot of opportunities that come up other than a full time city manager position,” Mabery said. Von Gausig echoed the same interest. He said he would like to have Mabery lend a hand in the future in one way or another.
“We’re going to continue to work with Gayle because she’s going to be in the area, and she has all the institutional knowledge,” Von Gausig said. “I think we can count on the fact that when we really need to understand how something happened in the past, she’ll be a really excellent resource for that.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
