Walter Munchheimer wanted to make Marysville great again
You’ll miss him when he’s gone.
Yes, Walter Munchheimer, the Bounce Back guru, won’t be around to see Marysville bounce back. But he certainly tried hard. The announcement of his departure came via email to the City Council, whose august members didn’t seem to be shedding any tears.
Well, it’s Marysville. The city managers come and go with stunning regularity. They all seem to fall short when compared to the elected officials who hold their fate in their hands.
Munchheimer’s timing does seem a bit odd, considering the council in February extended his contract through 2019 with a pay raise.
Usually if you extend somebody’s contract for two years, you fully expect them to hang around that long and not that they’re leaving in a few months.
But it’s Marysville, so who knows.
Munchheimer, in his late 60s, always seemed way smarter than his five bosses.
But other city managers have been smarter than the Marysville Five, but they find
“I wish they’d bring back the fireworks for Fourth of July – it keeps the families in town and makes more money for Marysville.” HaroldKruger isaveteran reporterand copyeditorfor theAppealDemocrat. Call749-4774.
their tenures truncated.
Munchheimer was hired in 2012, so he’s been around for more than cup of coffee.
Bounce Back was his signature project, but that was two years ago and there’s not been much evidence of a bounce in Marysville’s step.
It is a long-term project, so something might happen – maybe when someone refurbishes the Hotel Marysville or the State Theater.
Munchheimer’s email to the council on Wednesday followed a particularly odd council debate on Tuesday night about how the city will recruit its new Administrative Services director.
Four councilmembers didn’t seem to think Munchheimer was heading in the right direction, so they told him to go in the direction they wanted.
The timing does appear more than coincidental.
There may have been other reasons. The marijuana dispensary debate may have taken its toll, too.
So Munchheimer is out the door on Oct. 31 – happy Halloween – leaving Bounce Back, a successful sales tax increase and some other accomplishments in his wake.
But the Marysville Five are still in charge.
You may have missed the obituary, but a prominent former North State resident died last week at 81.
His name? Adnan Khashoggi. He was, for a time, one of the richest men in the world, thanks to the arms trade.
Khashoggi enrolled at Chico State College, the New York Times reported, and “barely a year after arriving at Chico State, at 21, he brokered his first major deal, the sale of $3 million worth of trucks to Egypt. His commission was $150,000. He never returned for his college degree.”
Khashoggi did his partying after he left Chico.