Marc Ott, Austin City Manager
Marc Ott, Austin City Manager
Written by Staff Thursday, 07 February 2008
Just before the beginning of black history month, Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Marc Ott made history of his own by becoming the City of Austin’s first African American city manager. When current City Manager Toby Futrell leaves the position in May, Ott will take over, managing one of the nation’s fastest growing cities. Here Ott discusses his philosophies and his plans for the first 30 days of the job.
- Q. How did you end up in the city managing field?
- A. I didn’t really start out with this focus. I thought I was going to be a lawyer, but who knew? I was finishing my last year of grad school doing an internship for public sector experience with the city administrator in Michigan, Dale Burgdorf, who over the years has affected my career in positive ways. The internship was really what started it for me. Dale introduced me to his organization in a serious way. More than that, he introduced me to the profession. He took me to a city manager’s conference, their main educational conference, and he introduced me around to city managers who were in very high regard in Michigan and around the country and I looked up to them. He was even so sensitive that one time he made special arrangements for me to have dinner with two African American city managers, one an assistant city manager, because he wanted me to see the profession from their perspective. There weren’t a whole lot of African American city managers at that time, and there still aren’t today.I learned several things from the internship. One: When it came to public service in general at the government level, I liked it. Two: It seemed like I had a bit of a knack for it. But most importantly, I realized what we do at the local government level affects the every day lives of people from the time they get up in the morning to the time they lay down at night, and even while they sleep we’re still affecting them because of the wide range of services, basic and otherwise, we provide everyday. That just seemed profoundly important to me, and I knew upon that realization, I wanted to be part of that.
- Q. There was some criticism about the city’s lack of openness with their choice of city manager, even leading council member Jennifer Kim to decline to vote. How will you incorporate openness?
- A. I believe people here would say I’m very open. My approach is collaborative, leadership-wise. What we do here is the people’s business: There’s really nothing to hide. Albeit there are reasons why a legislative body or council must have its executive sessions not open to the public only because on those occasions they’re trying to serve the best interests of the public if involved in some sort of negotiations. But those things aside, it is the people’s business and my approach both inside and outside of city hall. I was pleased to hear the citizens in Austin are actively engaged in exercising their citizenship in the city.At the end of the day I think that kind of interaction of citizens and that interaction in city hall among the employees, not withstanding any hierarchical status, results in better decisions and therefore better outcomes for the city’s visions, mission, goals and objectives.
- Q. What is one of the hardest decisions you’ve had to make in a management role?
- A. It’s difficult when I’m not able to provide the things the employees need to do their jobs the way we expect them to do it. When it’s a tough budget year and we can’t do certain things despite the fact we know they are really needed. The reason it’s difficult for me is because I have a real sense of understanding what they go through to get their jobs done sometimes - things the public doesn’t see and the mayor and council don’t see. Throughout my career I’ve had days I call ‘manager work days’ or ‘field days’, and what I’ve done is I pick an operating department and I get assigned to a work group. At the start of the shift, I show up wearing the helmet or work boots or whatever the required equipment so when we talk about streets and the condition of them and about repaving streets, I understand because I know what it’s about, because I’ve been out there and I’ve operated the paver. I know what it feels like to pave a street in 90 degree weather when your citizens are upset because there’s been some sort of problem in the delivery of water because a water pump has failed, I know what it’s like to get one of those back on line because I’ve helped repair a water pump. So when you’re in physically constrained circumstances, and you appreciate how hard our employees work, when you can’t provide and you know the funding is going to remain the same, that’s hard for me.
- Q. What do you hope to accomplish in your first thirty days as city manager?
A. I’ve already started. I’ve been looking at lots of financial information and talked with City Financial Officer Michael McDonald so I can start looking at the material. There are a number of other things I’m going to work on even before I get there. Beyond that I’ll certainly be meeting with the mayor and council and have opportunities to engage them more substantively about their vision, mission, goals and objectives. I want to know how they want to have a communication strategy between council and manager, and make sure we’re communicating effectively and no one is going to be surprised. It’s really important to me to make sure the council and I have a very good, effective working relationship, and I want them to help determine ways we can most effectively communicate, formally and informally. There are lots of tools, and we should avail ourselves of as many of them as we need to connect with each
- Family: Married with a young daughter and son
- Education: Master’s degree in public administration and a Bachelor’s degree in management with a concentration in economics, both from Oakland University in Michigan.
- Contact Information: www.ci.austin.tx.us/connect/email_marcott.htm
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