Duggan wants only 'problems of prosperity'

Contributed Auburn Villager Charles M. Duggan

The recent Auburn Citizen's Survey revealed that nine out of 10 people (92 percent) are satisfied with city services. With that evidence, it is safe to say that the maintenance of quality of life is in good hands--the hands of city employees.

At the top sits Charlie Duggan, Auburn city manager. He presides over all city workers and department heads and reports city happenings and plans to Auburn City Council members, who are the policy makers, twice a month.

One of the most recent events that Duggan handled was Tommy Dawson's promotion from acting police chief to police chief. After consultation with public safety department head Bill James, Duggan made the decision to remove "acting" from Dawson's title.

Dawson, who has spent more than two decades with the department, was informed of the pleasant news Tuesday, July 6, before a city council meeting.

"Chief Dawson deserved it because he had been doing an incredible job," Duggan said. "I asked Bill if we should take more time to evaluate him, and Bill said he didn't need it to think about what he already knew. We are both confident that he'll continue to work hard and represent the department the right way."

The city's department heads, Duggan included, have been working for the city for anywhere from a few years to four decades. During The Auburn Villager interviews, all have expressed happiness in their positions and agreed they don't plan to leave Auburn any time soon.

Aside from the stellar benefits and opportunities for promotion within the city, Duggan said he believes employees are happy with what they do for a living.

"There's a lot of pride in their work," Duggan said. "These people work hard every day and want to make sure Auburn continues to be a great place to live for the people we work for, the citizens.

"Like Chief Dawson for example. He took it upon himself to attend FBI school. He did that to make himself a better officer because he wants to do an even better job at serving the city."

When Duggan recently interviewed a candidate for a position, he asked the interviewee what he believed made Auburn different from other places he had worked.

"His answer was, ‘Everyone likes each other here,'" Duggan said. "And it's true. When your workplace has that kind of atmosphere, it makes it easy to show up each day."

Duggan has been working for the city since 1989, when he held a part-time job in the parks and recreation department while he worked toward a master's in business administration from Auburn.

He was brought on as a full-timer in 1991. From there he moved over to the Information Technology department after it was formed in the mid-1990s.

In those jobs, Duggan worked under Becky Richardson, parks and recreation department head, and Jim Buston, head of IT. Even though both people now call Duggan "boss," Duggan said it has never been an issue.

"I'm not the type of person to treat someone differently from another person," Duggan said. "Becky and Jim are both wonderful at what they do, just like all of the other department heads. I can't imagine what it would be like without them. I'm very lucky to have people like that around me."

Duggan, originally from Dunedin, Fla., attended Auburn University for his undergraduate studies. After a visit to Loyola University during high school, Duggan's parents asked if he wanted to check out Auburn's campus on the way back to Florida.

When they arrived on the Plains in the early evening, they went inside picturesque Samford Hall. While they were walking through its halls, a man stopped to talk to them and offered to give them a tour of the campus. Duggan was impressed with what he saw and what the university had to offer.

Even more impressive was the identity of the man who gave them the tour. He was George Emert, then Auburn's executive vice president.

"If the school's vice president took the time to talk to a high school kid and his parents and show us around the campus," Duggan said, "I knew this was a special place."

Duggan earned a bachelor's degree in applied physics, initially thinking he would move to Huntsville after graduation and work for NASA like many of his classmates. But once he began working with the city part-time, Duggan found city government fascinated him.

The type of thinking associated with a math and science field like physics continues to play a role in his work as city manager, however.

"I think linearly almost to a fault," Duggan said. "If there's a problem, I want the specific answers on how to solve it. Step by step. That's how I go about everything."

Since Auburn citizens are satisified with the quality of life in their city, the job of Duggan and his employees is to make sure they stay that way.

"The only problems I want are those of prosperity," Duggan said. "Like population growth or bringing in a second cable company. And right now, we're lucky to be in that position."