Crockett Appoints Assistant City Administrator

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The Crockett City Council meeting was one of the fastest on record, officially, only opening for a prayer and the pledge, before confirming Crockett Economic and Industrial Corporation (CEIDC) business (see related article) and going into an executive session to discuss creating and naming someone to serve as Assistant City Administrator to City Administrator John Angerstein. 

The move itself comes as no surprise, given the depth of the job Angerstein occupies, with both a growing city, complex administration, overseeing grant work and city departments – and for the last year – overseeing CEIDC’s scaled-down but busy operations. 

The council took less than an hour of discussion to name Lee Standley as their candidate of choice to serve in the role. Standley is currently Fire Marshall at Crockett Fire Department, (CFD) as well as Building Official and Code Enforcement Officer, and said this had been a goal of his for some time, going so far as to complete his City Public Manager training, over the course of the last year. 

Before another city could scoop him up, Angerstein approached Standley about the position, should it be approved, and Standley was happy to stay in Crockett, while helping the city grow and get some real-world training in such a position. 

“Crockett is moving forward and I’m glad to be a part of it and play a bigger role in it,” Standley told The Messenger. 

He will be in a transition phase for a while, still overseeing fire investigations and helping CFD while he begins to transfer into the new job. While he will immediately take some of the burden off of Angerstein, he will still help oversee planning, zoning and safety issues, hopefully freeing Angerstein up for bigger projects. 

In the meantime, more CFD staff will be trained to assume aspects of the job of fire marshal, while Standley gradually oversees other areas, probably never fully giving up helping his fellow firefighters. 

A man wearing many hats and of many talents, Standley admitted the real work will now begin to disperse some of his current responsibilities, as he begins his new position. 

“We can’t just stop today and people can’t get permits or they can’t do this or they can’t do that,” Standley insisted. “We’ve got to keep the city moving.”

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]