Karrie Beth Little will start her new job later this month
WATONGA – Watonga City Council meetings don’t often draw a large crowd, but dozens of locals were there last Thursday morning for a special occasion: the hiring of Watonga’s new city manager.
Karrie Beth Little was on hand to accept the job and succeed interim Manager Larry Mitchell. Watonga Mayor Bill Seitter thanked Mitchell for his service to the city and expressed optimism about the future under Little’s direction.
“I am really looking forward to where we’re heading in the future under Karie Beth’s leadership,” he said. “We are 100 percent behind you.”
Seitter said Mitchell has “led us through a lot of challenges” in his year-plus in the interim manager role, including a wholesale change in the city’s form of government.
That change, to a councilmanager government, gives the city manager more control over the city’s day-to-day operations and heightens the importance of Little’s new role.
“I think we as citizens – till you’re on this council, till you’re involved in this process, you don’t realize everything these people working for the city do for us,” Seitter said. “All we see is, a lot of times, when our electricity’s out, we want it on. When our trash is not picked up, we want it picked up.
“There is just a tremendous amount of things that are really going well in Watonga. I think a lot of times, we forget where we were at four or five years ago, (compared) to where we are today. I think our focus, and what we’ve got with Karie, is where we are today and where we want to be in the future.”
City Councilwoman Ladina Willis gave Little a “big kudos” for being a woman in leadership.
“It was a gut feeling for me and the city council,” Willis said of the hire. “She had everything we were looking for, so we worked out the details as far as getting her in here. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, it’s what’s inside. You’ve got to affect your community, and I think she definitely is the one to do it.
“So we’re 100 percent behind her, and we’re asking you guys to help us support her, as well.”
Little’s first day on the job will be Aug. 23.