Columbus Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong will retire at the end of June, he confirmed to The Dispatch earlier this week.
The city council accepted his letter of retirement and authorized Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell to advertise for his position, as part of the consent agenda at their meeting Tuesday night. Armstrong’s last day will be June 25.
Armstrong said he’s looking forward to his retirement.
“I’m going to spend more time with … my two sons and travel,” he said. “That’s about the only plans I have.”
Armstrong has been with the city as COO since October 2006. Prior to that, he worked as county administrator in DeSoto County from 1999 to 2005. He also served a stint as mayor of Natchez from 1988 to 1992.
He said he thinks experience in those positions gave him a leg up in his position as COO, which he’s enjoyed.
“I’ve done this off and on for many years since ’88 on the city and the county side both,” Armstrong said. “But nationwide in a job like I have … the average tenure is like five to six years, so I’ve been very blessed here. I’ve had a good relationship with mayors and all the councils I’ve worked with going back to ’06. And that’s usually not the case.”
Both Mayor Robert Smith, who was Ward 1 councilman when Armstrong first began working for the city, and Ward 6 City Councilman Bill Gavin said Armstrong has been an asset to the city and will be sorely missed.
“David has been a valuable employee and trusted friend,” Smith said in a statement released to The Dispatch on Wednesday. “He has been a great asset to Columbus and the citizens of the city. He leaves some mighty big shoes to fill.”
Gavin said Armstrong’s law background has been particularly helpful in guiding the city on occasions when the council could have steered into legal trouble.
“David’s an attorney by trade, and his legal mind has helped keep the city on track, out of a lot of trouble,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to go in there (for) an everyday layman, someone from off the street who becomes councilman or mayor or whatever. It may not be intentional, but they may accidentally break the law somehow. David’s pretty good at keeping us all straight, and he’s good with the budget, very good with the budget. That’s where he’s going to be sorely missed.”
Armstrong said he plans to be involved in choosing his replacement if the council hires one in time.
“I know I’ll be probably heavily involved in the selection process, at least the interviewing side,” he said. “Of course the decision will be made by the mayor and the council.”
He added it would be beneficial to train the new COO before he leaves, since he’ll depart right when city officials are starting to put together next fiscal year’s budget.
“If you haven’t had experience in governmental accounting, you don’t really know how a budget works (until you’re trained),” he said. “It’s not rocket science, it just can be a little tedious to put together. But yeah, I’m certainly interested in who follows me. I would be derelict in my duty if I weren’t interested in something like that.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
