Buda’s longtime City Manager announces retirement
Staff Reports
BUDA — The City of Buda’s long-time City Manager Kenneth Williams tendered his resignation to councilmembers at the end of Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Williams’ 13.5 -year tenure as city manager with the City of Buda, which began Sept. 8, 2008, will end March 31, 2022.
City Manager Kenneth Williams
City Manager Kenneth Williams
In his prepared statement to the city council, Williams said, “Partnering with the City of Buda has been a highlight of my career, with Cynthia and my family thanking you for providing the necessary resources, opportunities and pleasurable events that make for an excellent quality of life during and after our tenure. The citizens, mayors, city councils and having an outstanding staff are all to thank for such a gratifying relationship with significant accomplishments … Thank you, and we wish blessings for the City of Buda and everyone in it for the future.”
“I appreciate Mr. Williams for his years of service to the City of Buda and the leadership that you’ve provided over the past many years. You’ve watched us grow up quite a bit, and thank you for that,” Buda Mayor Lee Urbanovsky said in making a motion to accept Williams’ resignation as presented.
The city council also passed a motion to authorize Buda’s staff to commence a recruitment process for the next city manager.
During Williams’ leadership with the City of Buda were a number of notable accomplishments, which include the following to name a few:
- Nurtured a 230% growth rate in population in the expanding Central Texas Austin – San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area.
- Administering Bond Propositions, including the construction of a new Buda Municipal Complex, Streets, Drainage Projects and Parks infrastructure.
- Implementation of the Cabela’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) in which the World Outfitter, the City of Buda, the Buda Economic Development Corporation, and Hays County partnered on economic development.
- The relocation of the U.S. Foods service 290,000 square foot, $50-million food distribution facility to the City of Buda.
- Inception of the Buda Police Department. The high growth rate of Buda, increasing contract costs and the ability to manage its own law enforcement agency were factors in the City deciding to implement its own department.
- Directed the development of a new Comprehensive Plan which evaluates future growth in Buda and identifies components of the city such as the downtown area, parks, city infrastructure, and quality of life issues. The plan will help develop a citizen-created vision for how the city grows over the next 10 to 20 years.
- Implementing the projects that resulted of Buda’s first-ever bond package that was approved in 2014.
- Managed the annexation of lands, including the largest tax-paying industrial complex in Hays County.
- Administered the establishment of a new tourism department with the opening of a new Tourism Center in Historic Stagecoach Park.
- Managed the construction and inauguration of the Tyler Norris Memorial Skate Park.
- The reconstruction of the Main Street Overpass, intersection of IH-35, and construction of the Robert S. Light Bridge as part of the federal stimulus package.
Williams earned his Master of Public Administration degree from Villanova University, his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and his Associate of Science in Business degree from Angelina College. Williams previously served as city manager in Diboll, Texas, and assistant city manager in Lufkin, Texas, having served 34 years in municipal government.
