On Jan. 7, former Yuma Deputy Administrator Ron Corbin took over as the new Cottonwood city manager, following the retirement of Doug Bartosh, who had been in the role for 11 years. In the two weeks since he took control of the city’s administrative agencies, Corbin has sought to acclimate himself to the new town before he gets a chance to leave his imprint on it.
Unlike his predecessor, who came into the job from a position at the top of the Cottonwood Police Department, Corbin, who was chosen after a months-long recruiting process from the Novak consulting group, enters the Cottonwood government for the first time at the top of the org chart, which he said he sees as both a blessing and a curse.
“The liability is that I don’t know where the land mines are,” Corbin said about his position as a newcomer. “I don’t know where things may have happened for a reason, so I have to take it a little easier, a little slower, and learn. I think one of the things that outsiders sometimes do — and I’m trying very hard not to do — is not honor the past. I think you need to respect the past and I think you need to respect the people who have been here.
“But I think one of the neat things is that I will be able to ask questions, because I won’t have any presumptions of the answer,” Corbin said. “I can refresh the challenges to the status quo and to the way things have always been. There may be federal regulations, or state regulations or people may be against it, but at least I can ask the questions.”
“You want them to be different,” said Rudy Rodriguez, who is continuing his role as deputy city manager as Corbin takes over from Bartosh.
“There’s a renewed energy here. There’s a winding down of an old era and the beginning of a new one. And I think he wants to just continue all the great things we’ve done over the past decade, just continuing adding more on the great things we’ve done. Right now, he’s still getting his feet wet and learning a lot of stuff. We’re here to help him out any way we can.”
Even coming in fresh, Corbin said he feels he has begun to develop a connection to Cottonwood. By wild coincidence, Corbin already has a tattoo of a cottonwood tree on his ankle. The tattoo has nothing to do with the town — it represents his daughter who lives in Arkansas, and who Corbin describes as “strong and wild” like the tree, and joins another tattoo of a bonsai tree representing his son. But nevertheless, he said he feels it is a sign that he was meant to be here.
Corbin bought a house on the edge of Old Town where he said he hopes his wife and dogs will be able to move to soon. He said he has taken to the
small community, the ability to get anywhere in just 3 to 4 minutes and the walkability of Old Town.
“There’s something to be said for small town USA,” Corbin said, comparing the ease of travel with the hour long commutes he had been accustomed to in Yuma. “I love the people and the community. The employees here are top notch. They’ve been very open and inviting. The community members I’ve met so far have been open and excited about me coming in.”
Corbin said he hopes to allow for that friendly atmosphere to pervade the city government, allowing for decisions to be made on merits rather than personal issues. He spoke highly of what he has seen so far from the City Council in the meetings he has attended so far.
“I think [disagreement] is important,” Corbin said. “We don’t want everybody always agreeing on everything because then we’re missing something. You’re missing representation of a group or sector of the community. You’re missing something if everybody always agrees. But that doesn’t mean you have to disagree on every issue.”
In addition to the meetings he attended, Corbin got his start getting to know the council [beyond his initial interviews] at the two-day council retreat that occurred early in the month. The council and new manager discussed numerous issues facing the community and focused on lack of affordable housing as a clear area of concern.
“He and I are still building our relationship,” Mayor Tim Elinski said of the new hire, but the mayor said that he felt Corbin had already done “exceptionally well considering all the issues thrown his way.”
“I’ve allowed time in my schedule these next couple months to have that very close contact with the manager and I think that he and I are going to work very hard to increase communication between the mayor, manager and council.”
Corbin expressed gratitude to the council and the city staff in helping him make the transition easy, making note of his appreciation for the city manager’s assistant, Sandra Salas.
“I’ve been managing people for almost 30 years and sometimes stuff just happens,” Corbin said. “I’ve seen the best managers be surprised by something or other. And it’s usually not ill-intent, but it is just a bad deci- sion. The key to keeping stuff like that from happening is addressing the issue quickly and fairly. I also think that making sure that you have open communication with your employees. If you as a higher up aren’t meeting with your employees often, then you might not learn what’s really going on.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
