Cottonwood City Manager Scotty Douglass has tendered his resignation in a letter delivered to the city on Thursday, Jan. 4. The letter reads:
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
After careful consideration, I have reached the decision to resign from my position as City Manager. To adhere to the terms outlined in Section 11 of my employment agreement, “Agreement for Services” with the City of Cottonwood, I am providing a 90-day notice period. As such, my last day in this role will be on April 4, 2024.
I appreciate the opportunities and experiences during my tenure with the city.
A full story will appear in the Jan. 10 edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
Douglass earned an associate’s degree in computer systems administration, an undergraduate degree in business management, and a master’s degree in Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California. Douglass came to the city of Cottonwood with nearly 27 years of local government experience.
He first oversaw cyber and check fraud prevention in Tempe, served his country for four years in the U.S. Navy, as an Antenna Maintenance Supervisor and Radioman 3rd Class in Technical Control, aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise (CVN-65), a nuclear-power Enterprise class aircraft carrier.
After he was honorably discharged, he served as a police dispatcher for the Santa Cruz Police Department, Reserve Deputy Harbor Master for the Santa Cruz Port District, then a dispatcher, Systems Divison Manager and finally executive dirrector of Santa Cruz Regional 911, which provided public safety and 9-1-1 dispatch services for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Cruz Police and Fire Departments, Watsonville Police and Fire Departments and Capitola Police Department, in addition to services to all the fire districts in Santa Cruz County and American Medical Response, the local paramedic and ambulance transport provider in the region..
Highlights of his teams’ accomplishments are a Citywide Blight Abatement Program to address the city’s beautification and cleanup efforts regarding illegal dumping, abandoned vehicles, abandoned shopping carts, etc.; a Smart Cities Strategy Program to ensure the city’s coordination of data collection and use to tie the citywide systems together including traffic signals, public safety cameras, permitting, and the city’s public workorder systems; and a city virtual meeting system to allow the public to interact during Council Meetings in over 30 languages.
Most recently, Douglass served as a deputy city manager for the city of Modesto, Calif., with a direct focus on building and development, water and wastewater utilities, parks & recreation, public works, airport and transportation, urban forestry, and more. He also has a breadth of experience in public safety, human resources, finance/budget, and information technology management.
Douglass was appointed by the Cottonwood City Council to the role of city manager in April 2023.
He stated he was “pleased to return to the State of Arizona and is honored to serve his new community, joining an accomplished City Leadership Team and an amazing staff! Scotty looks forward to serving his community in a variety of ways.
As a private pilot, he enjoys flying single-engine airplanes and has spent a great deal flying throughout Arizona and the Verde Valley.
In his spare time, Scotty also loves camping and riding off-road motorcycles with his wife Michele and son Jack.
