City Council Meeting 2025-11-21: Retirement Tribute to Rich Bus

It has been a pleasure to work with Rich for the entire time I've been here, 26 years.

And he has just been a stalwart person in everything that he does.

He cares so much about this community and cares about all of us.

He's taking care of all of us, takes care of all our buildings, all our facilities, all our parks, and uh we're just so lucky to have him.

I'm gonna make some other comments in a few minutes, but uh, we are very lucky to have our mayor here today because he has a schedule that you can't believe.

Um he has already been to like five schools, I think, this morning, uh, delivering uh some awards, and uh he has to go do it again uh in just a little bit.

So we are very happy that he was able to make this work today.

So I want to introduce Steve Thunder Tumblin.

This is a thrill.

Thank y'all for sharing Rich with us all these years.

Uh we want to keep you around, Rich.

I mean, this I mean I've come on the mayor.

Dunway will you come stand with me?

You you help out of this, man.

You well, Dunabay's the only one in the room that went to the 1947 Texas Georgia game years ago.

So he was chair there, but but I do want to say when I came on board, we it was right when we had a Great Depression, so to speak, and everybody in the city staff went from one job to two.

Rich was already an outstanding parks man, and then he took on parts of recreation.

Dunaway burdened with the uh the privilege of having a parks bond, which is a whole nother apartment.

Uh it's fun to spend 26 million dollars, but there were a lot of hours in that, a lot of meetings, and uh we have probably the bit because of that, and Rich, it was you, and I just want to thank y'all for what y'all did.

We had the best park system in the state of Georgia, and yet he was still doing two other jobs, and I think still being a dad and a husband, and just uh just a great man.

And this is it's just a privilege to have worked with you.

And we just uh just very, very excited.

In fact, your resume is dead that is it's typed in real small print, so I'm gonna be here about five minutes.

But but but if you bear with me, this is worth remembering just the service that this man has given this city and especially through parks.

Whereas Rich A.

Bus will be honored by colleagues, relatives, friends, and the mayor committee on the occasion of his retirement after more than 30 years of dedicated service to the city of Marietta.

Whereas Rich has served with distinction as the director of parks, recreation, and facilities, overseeing 42 parks, 389 acres, ensuring the generation of residents and visitors have enjoyed welcoming and well-maintained public spaces and well used.

Whereas Rich played an edible role in development of several of the city's most treasured amenities, including Elizabeth Porter Park, and Spray Ground, and the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex, along with numerous other parks and recreational assets to continue to enrich the quality of life in Marietta.

Whereas throughout his career, Rich also guided the successful renovation and revitalization of many parks, including Wildwood Park, and provided steadfast care for the city's gym, historic Glover Park, ensuring ensuring it remained a vibrant centerpiece of our community, and it it has been and it is well used.

Whereas, in addition to his leadership over parks and recreation, Rich managed the city's facilities with diligence and professionalism, ensuring that essential buildings and community spaces remain open and well maintained for city operations and public use.

Whereas Rich's long and productive career exemplifies dedication, service, and pride in his community, and his contributions have been a lasting impact on the city of Marietta and all who enjoy its parks, facilities, and public spaces.

Whereas, in recognition of his impactful and lasting contribution to the city of Marietta, Rich Bush is represented with a key to the city as a symbol of deep appreciation for his extraordinary service.

Now, therefore, I Steve Tumman on behalf of the city council and former mayors, alumni mayors, uh do hereby proclaim Friday, November 21st as Rich Bus Day in Marietta, Georgia.

We'd like to keep the cleaner city.

And also got a little medical.

Great.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor.

We appreciate that.

We don't give away many keys to the city.

So that's that's that's pretty good.

Um would also like to recognize some people that are very special that are with us today.

We have a lot of special people here today.

You're gonna hear from some of them in a little bit.

Uh but we have a lot of family members uh that are with us today, which is great.

Uh, we have his wife Jacqueline, who's here.

And then we also have his son Michael, uh sister Janelle.

Down there, and uh brother Tom and his wife Julie, both from Wisconsin, so appreciate y'all being here.

Um and then we have Jerry and his wife, uh Lori, who were from Houston, Texas.

So we have a lot of folks from a lot of places that came to see this wonderful day.

Um as I said, I was gonna say a little bit more.

Um as the mayor said, Rich has been a part of so much, uh, so much for such a long period of time.

Uh I know when I got here, uh I obviously was looking for people who knew what was going on, and uh that you know could help me a little bit.

Um and so Rich was the guy.

I mean, he definitely uh knew what had gone on, he knew uh where everything was, he knew um where you know what the things that the city had done in the past that worked and didn't and all the rest, and so uh really valued his uh time that that he was able to spend with me to kind of let me know uh different things to do and some things not to do.

Um so I really appreciated that.

Um but then as I got to know him, uh I really uh really appreciated him more and more because I understood the love that he has for the community and the love that he has uh for the people that work with him and the love that he has for the city as a as an organization.

Um Rich, uh I mean, if you know him, you know that he's very detail-oriented and uh he definitely focuses in on certain things and he wants to make sure it's done right.

And uh, if you've got somebody who's taking care of all your facilities and your buildings, you want that.

Uh you want somebody who makes sure that that roof is gonna be done the right way, and we just had that done.

Um so you want to make sure it's done right, you want to make sure our parks are taken care of the way that they should be.

And uh, I remember as the mayor kind of alluded to, um, gosh, this was 2003 and four.

Um, we were looking at the budget and we were looking at a lot of different things that were going on, and we needed a way to to actually save some money, and uh without raising taxes, because we're very happy that we don't raise taxes here, so that's a good thing.

Um, but uh we needed to find some ways to to do that.

But also uh Rich had come to me and said, Um, well, I love what I'm doing, but I'm in charge of all these programs all over the city uh that we do in parks and we do them in buildings, and uh I love it, but I'm not in charge of the spaces that we're doing the activities.

And so uh, you know, we can come in there and we can uh plan something, but if uh the folks that are in charge of the building don't work with us or you know don't have something going that we need, then uh it makes it a lot harder.

And it isn't that the people didn't want to work with the the parks folks, but obviously they got priorities and parks had priorities, and so sometimes it didn't match up exactly the way it needed to.

So uh we had an opportunity where we had a you know retirement and we had some other things going on, and so uh I went to Rich and uh said, Well, um, would you like to be the head of both departments?

Um we'll give you both of them.

And you we can combine them together, and uh that then you can be in charge of both.

You can be in charge of the programs and the facilities and make it all work together.

Um and so I was very, very happy that he decided that he would take that on.

Um we actually, in doing it, and uh the reason I'm stressing this is because it was a lot of stress to him.

I probably still is, but uh but when we did it, um we actually uh did kind of a reduction in force, but we didn't get rid of any people.

What we did is we reduced positions, but we took individuals that we had, and then some of them stayed in the parks and wreck and buildings of department, but then some of them went to public works because we had a lot of empty spaces in public works, so we shifted them over there.

So nobody lost a job, but what we were able to do is decrease the number of positions that we actually had.

And so that first year we were able to save $900,000 and still do the same thing.

Um and uh it just really is a testament to Rich and to everybody in parks, recreation, and facilities, uh, that they've been able to do that these years.

Um it's a it was a lot of work and uh really put a lot more work on a lot of people.

And so uh I you know he you he could have sat there and complained about it and said, My gosh, Bill, you took these people away, and now you're giving me the same amount or more, uh, especially with the bond.

But uh Rich is the kind of person he just gets in there and makes it happen.

Um, so he's just total dedication.

Uh and so I want to thank him for that, uh, definitely, and then echo what the the mayor just said um about the parks bond.

Um so he's running two departments basically at the same time, and then all of a sudden the voters agree, and we've got this parks bond that uh he then has to to do.

Uh and so I was looking at the list uh actually it was on Monday, and uh the because we've almost finished everything, and that was one of the reasons Rich was waiting until now to retire, uh, was because he was trying to get through all those projects because that's the kind of person he is.

He wants to finish it.

Uh and so basically I consider it finished.

Uh that we that you have done everything, you've got everything in place, and we got one last project that is in the works right now, but it's all set to go and everything's there.

So um Rich has finished it.

Uh but out of that parks bond, we basically touched every park we have in this city.

I mean, every one.

Uh improvements were made to them.

New parks were created.

Elizabeth Porter was created.

Um Tumlin Park was created.

Uh we've got um oh gosh, I'm trying to think of the others that we got.

We custer sports facility, an indoor facility was created.

Uh, which is and gateway.

I mean, how can I forget that one?

Gateway out on a Franklin Gateway.

So we we actually, you know if you look at it, I mean, the the real active facilities that we got, we pretty much doubled them as far as the active facilities that we have.

Uh, and then every other park was improved upon.

And so uh just a real legacy that you should be extremely proud of on what you were able to do for this community.

So we're gonna miss you.

I mean, no question.

Um, I'm very happy to hear that hopefully you're staying local, um, so that we'll be able to have you guys here, I hope.

But um we do uh do really owe you a lot, Rich.

And uh if when you talk about people that have worked at a place and they've really devoted the majority of their life, this gentleman has.

So he's also, I mean, just a couple last things.

He's also the kind of guy that if something happens, like an alarm goes off at a building in the middle of the night.

Guess who's getting called?

So uh Rich uh he always weekends, whatever it was, no problem.

I could get him, I mean, text him, call him, whatever it was, it didn't matter where he was.

Um Rich would be here in a second and take care of whatever we needed.

Uh so um I just want to thank you for everything that you've done for us.

I know it'll never be enough thanks, uh, but do want to give you a couple things.

One is that infamous, you know, check that you did.

So I want to thank you for that.

And then want to present you uh two things.

One is a plaque uh congratulating him on over 30 years of service to the city of Marietta, and one of the favorite pictures we like of you.

And um from me personally, uh wanted to give you a picture of something that you dedicated so much of your life to make a special place for this whole community, and that is Glover Park.

And so very happy that uh you actually had a signed original from Mr.

Johnny Walker.

So appreciate it.

Uh yeah, do have some snow there.

Um and now I would like to uh call uh the council members that would like to make a few statements, uh call y'all up, and also Mr.

Dunaway, Mayor Dunaway.

Um so uh come up John I'm Johnny Walker.

I serve uh in Ward 3.

I'm on my 12th year, and um I was looking forward to running again.

But uh when I heard that uh Rich was when I heard that he was retiring, I said, Well, there ain't no way because the city's you know not ever gonna be the same.

But uh Rich, you've done a great job.

I can't even up all the comments that the mayor made, Bill made, multiply that by 10, and you just you've helped me when I was head of the parks, and uh you're a great guy, and you you had definitely have superman status in Marietta.

Okay, for anybody who doesn't know, I'm Cheryl Richardson, I'm councilwoman for Ward 1.

We have a park in Ward 1 that up until what, half a year ago, it actually doubled as a swimming pool because there was so much water standing in it.

And that is the new Seminski Park, formerly known as West Dixie Park.

And I went to Rich and went to Rich and I said, Rich, what are we gonna do?

And he said, Well, we've got to do something with the water and do something with this.

If you go by and look at that park now, it's not quite done yet, but it has a walking track.

It has a it's getting a new gazebo, a new play structure.

Literally half a year ago, we thought there was nothing we were going to be able to do.

So, Rich, on behalf of everyone in Ward One, especially in that neighborhood, thank you for making that a reality, and you are going to be greatly missed.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Andre Sims in Ward Six, and uh Rich, you know, Ward Six, uh, all of the town halls that you came in and talked about and everything.

Uh from the constituents, they said wish you the very best because of your excitement in talking about parks and wrecks.

And I want to personally thank you for everything that you have done, not only for Ward 6, but for the entire city of Marietta, you know.

Um I learned a lot from you coming in as a rookie on the council.

So you know, I have a little uh momentum up here for you.

So, but no, yeah, you'll see it.

So um, but wishing you all the best.

Thank you.

You and your family.

Thank you, sir.

Somebody did think of the clean access because I thought of a lot of things, but I forgot so that was good evening, everybody.

My name's Carl Al Ken.

I'm the councilman for Ward 5, and I I want to say my gratitude and thanks for Rich for all that he's done for the city and all the parks.

But there's one thing that's not finished yet, Rich, is that my favorite park is the golf course over there, and you can tell I played too many and the sand traps.

We haven't got the sand uh redone for the sand traps.

So you gotta stay.

We need some splash money, so we gotta hang on a little bit longer until we can get that.

If you haven't been over to see the Marietta City Club, I mean it's one of the nicest golf courses around, and I think Rich took a lot of pride in it, and um I played too much, that's why I had back surgery this year.

But uh, you know, people come from all around.

I I go over there.

I love to go and play and have them put me with somebody with another group so I can meet new people.

And it's just amazing that people have been all around uh Cobb County and even some in other counties that are coming to play the Marietta City Club.

So again, I want to wish you the best in retirement on your board.

I said have fun because life is short and every day counts.

Thank you, Rich, for your service.

Yeah, I want to thank Rich for all he's done.

Twenty years I've been with you too, so that's uh sharing.

Uh when we started over there from my ward was um Tumblin' Park, and it wasn't even called Tumblin' Park at that time.

But um it was a swamp, you know, and you remember it too.

We got the school board put it on us because they just didn't want to take care of it anymore.

But you turned into what it is today.

It's and it's amazing the work you've done on that and all the other things that I come to you about little signs here and there and stuff.

So, but you you do a great job of taking care of it all.

Thank you, Rich.

Don't worry, I feel a lot better than I look.

And there is one advantage about getting old.

You outlive all your enemies.

So I don't think I got one left, but I'll make a I'll make a few enemies.

Don't ever give a microphone to a recovery politician.

I do want to honor what I'm here.

I want to say thank you to the three retiring uh council people.

You've done a heck of a job.

And I hope the three people will place you learned what you did because you've had a sacrifice to be there, and I appreciate that service.

Also thank Thunder for writing again.

I know more than anybody else here, other than Thunder, the sacrifice he is making.

And thank goodness he did it.

Because he needed to keep with the three new councilman's cutting head for you here to carry it on, and I appreciate Thunder for doing it.

But anyway, when I became mayor, uh I knew about Rich.

I was worried that he might leave while I was still mayor, and I didn't think the city council could find another replacement.

Coming in the city hall while I was mayor was wonderful.

A great crew city boys, the mood they were in.

But Rich has got one quality that I wish I had.

He's up all the time.

He's in a good mood all the time.

And he's infectious.

And a couple of times when I was in a good mood, I go down to the public recloor and sit down and talk to Rich, because he gave me a lot of ideas.

And the city of Mary was grossly underparked.

I knew it, Rich knew it, the city council didn't want to admit to it.

And we did do a lot, submit a lot of money.

But at first we had to get a referendum.

Well, you had to get four votes in the city council.

It wasn't that easy.

But Rich produced the metrics, he produced the comparisons and everything else to prove it or go center park.

We finally got the four votes.

Now we got the referendum.

And unfortunately, there's a lot of rules about what a mayor can do and can't do sorry.

The parks record referendum.

I think I pushed the limits.

But Rich was so helpful to you could bring it forth.

And I was so thankful for that past 25 billion.

I wanted more than that, but I was happy with what we had.

And Rich played with that.

He ended up having with some grants and everything else.

He still says there's a few dollars left.

I appreciate that so much.

But Rich, you did such a good job, you may be looked good.

But I do appreciate it very, very much.

Thank you, Mayor Dunaway.

Um, we also have former council member Philip Goldstein who'd like to say some remarks on having self-handed for uh former council for Goldstein from Ward 7, and I'm also representing Joseph Goldstein, who is a current councilman for Ward 7.

Between both of us, we've been here your 30 years, and I can tell you from my time that as you've heard that you have done a great deal for the city, you've accomplished a lot, and this city has moved very, very forward under your leadership.

Um the trails that we have here is one of the things that haven't been mentioned up much.

But the trails that we have, Rich put a lot into that and made them happen.

Um the leadership that you provided to your department has been phenomenal, and I just want to say from both Joseph and I thank you very much for all you've done.

Do we have anybody else who would like to come up?

Uh anybody else have some fun stories or anything that you want to tell.

Yep.

Please.

Absolutely.

Rich.

Rich.

Well, I am saddened and delighted because retirement is good.

And I'd like to say the Cobb NAACP and Jereen Bonner Willis have been so proud and excited to work with you.

You have been a tremendous joy, and we are truly hopefully won't miss you.

Hopefully, we'll see you around.

And I'm gonna look forward to dancing with you at Glover Park.

Thank you.

Other individuals like the same thing.

Come on down.

Well, Rich, you want to go back a long way.

I tell you what I uh before I came here.

I was working with the uh city of Knoxville Parks and Recreation for 10 years, and um, I think it was at an NRPA conference meeting where I met Rich and uh we talked.

He told me how to position, and uh at the same time I was being recruited by San Antonio.

So I told Rich, I said, I think I'm gonna take your position because uh I've got relatives in Marietta.

I kind of grew up in Marietta, and uh he took me all.

And throughout those years, I've seen a lot of changes, good changes for the parks and recreation department.

I retired back in uh 21, was it 21, and I missed it so much that I came back.

And part of that is because of the good leadership that uh Rich uh had given me.

Um he had a lot of confidence in me, giving me that chance to come back.

And uh right now I'm in my 36th year total in the business.

And I just want to say, Rich, thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you for believing in me.

Thank you for all the help that you've given me, all the responsibilities that you've given me.

It's been a great pleasure working with you through the years.

Now don't do like I do, retire, come back.

But if you decide you do want to come back, just say it, you know.

Uh well, anybody else?

Very good comments.

He's hoping that somebody else will talk because he really doesn't want to get up here.

Okay.

Um well, thank you.

I know other folks will have opportunity to talk to you if they haven't already uh after we finish right here.

But um now we hit the moment that we've all been waiting for.

Um Rich, please have a podium.

Thank you, Bill.

I like to know it, Andre.

I've been known to cry, and I've had a few tears already, so I have prepared remarks so I can try to stay on track.

I need glasses at this age.

Got my hearing aids a couple weeks ago.

One of the few people that are getting their teeth straightened and wearing hearing aids at the same time.

Uh thanks everyone for all those kind remarks.

Uh I'm truly humbled and honored, and I trust you all will indulge me as I reflect a bit.

Some of it's gonna be a little repetitive because others have uh highlighted a few key things, and maybe I can skip over a little bit without getting too off track.

Uh in 1993, I was working as a director for the city of Woodstock, my first job after relocating from California, and I attended an ADA uh seminar hosted by the Marietta Human Resources Department here in town.

We had lunch on our own, and I took mine at Shillings on the square, one of the only handful of places you could even get lunch at the time.

Wow, things changed.

I love the ambience of the venue and the view of the square, and thought to myself that this is a place I would like to work someday.

A year or so later, I was lucky enough to assume my current position.

But that was not my first visit to Marietta.

As my wife and I waited for the moving van to come from California, we needed something to sit and sleep on.

So we bought a futon at a place down in Little Five Points.

Uh, we lived down there because she was gonna be attending Emory.

And they didn't have the item we wanted in stock, so they told us to go up to Marietta to their sister's store.

Well, they gave us directions and sent us out to uh Highway 75, told us to go get over on 41, you know, no waves or Google Maps at the time.

And then just told us to keep on 41 till we got to the big chicken, hang a left, and follow it up, and the store would be just one block before the Marietta Square across from a courthouse.

Well, we drove and we drove, and the next thing we were up at Ackworth and next to the lake.

For those that of you have lived here a long time, you know that the big chicken was blown down by a tornado.

And it was totally removed, and we never saw a big chicken.

So we turned around and came back, and it was the longest trip from Little Five Points to downtown Marietta anybody had probably taken.

It's been quite an eventful time on and off work that spanned portions of four decades now.

We had some serious uh national and international events, economic crises.

The city built a hotel that opened in 1996, just in time for the Olympics, and the Prince of Brunei from the world's wealthiest family at the time was the first guest.

He had the whole hotel, had two floors were just closed.

He flew in was three, three or five bulletproof Mercedes Benzes from California to drive around while he was here.

And uh there are a lot of other stories I could tell about him, but it took five box trucks to get everything he brought and everything they bought while they were here as they left the hotel.

I mean the big rider trucks going down the street.

Uh there's some many other things that occurred over at the city club over that time, like buying out the whole golf course just for he and his little group and uh his harem behind him and uh whatever, but uh those would take too long.

We celebrated multiple anniversaries of the renovation of Glover Park, the 175th celebration of the city, and we dropped a man in Gold Le May at midnight on New Year's Eve.

I still don't know what that was about.

Over the past 30 plus years, we oversaw over 31 million dollars in expenditures funded by the 1996 and the 2009 parks ponds, leveraged with grants and other money, building new parks, renovating existing ones, adding permanent restrooms and all our parks with acting amenities.

Special thanks must go to Mayor Dunaway and the City Council.

Uh that gave the voters the opportunity to vote on that narrowly passed 2009 bond referendum.

Uh I think that yay or nay, everyone will see the value of their additional taxes and the results that were produced.

Uh some of this is repetitive of what Bill said, but uh in that time we added five new parks totaling just over 16 acres, including the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex, a truce of six story made possible by the Parks Bond, and a redevelopment bond led by Mayor Tumlin.

We completely rebuilt two parks, uh Tumlin Park at Hickory Hills, a real jewel, and Custer Park that we turned from baseball fields into soccer fields.

We built the new sports and fitness center over there, which was a building that we acquired.

Uh we assembled additional property and constructed the magnificent Elizabeth Porter Park and acquired 24 and a half acres of green space, uh, not including the 52.

We just got over on All Good Road that could make a wonderful park someday.

We also completely renovated Henry Park with monies from tax allocation district funds.

And these are just a few of the success stories.

I can't go into them all, but with the renovation of West Dixie Park, now named Larry Siminsky Park for a transplanted Minnesota and that became a Marietta fixture in the business and volunteer world, will soon be completed.

And that will be the last of the major parks on projects.

In 2003, property management was merged with Parks Recreation and became the Department of Parks Recreation and Facilities.

Folks asked, how do we came up with that name?

Well, my response is always well, parks, recreation, golf, cemetery, buildings, and grounds.

Doesn't fit well on a shirt or a business card.

So we became facilities.

Overnight we took on management of all our parts of 27 buildings where we're responsible for repair and replacement of HVAC, boilers, chillers, cooling towers, VAVs, PIUs, things I didn't even know what they meant.

And now I can get on the computer and manage them and do them.

Everything that has to do with the building, paint plumbing, electrical, elevators, parking deck repairs, uh sharing responsibility with IT for gates and security systems and things like that.

Space planning and renovations.

We renovated the 268 building from a shell, where we now have offices and our uh well-loved employee clinic, and also custodial services, just to name some.

I have to say, I don't know why the mayor didn't give me that key earlier, like maybe a long, long time ago.

Because if I knew one key could have got me everywhere, I would not have been carrying all of those keys for all of those buildings and uh have a drawer half full of keys, a lot of which I don't even remember where they went anymore.

But uh I will make sure to turn them in, though.

Um we also, of course, took over the parks and grounds maintenance, which takes uh mowing, blowing, edging, seasonal color, and tree care.

Uh you might not know it, but it takes our entire crew more than a day just to mow and edge and do the work at the cemetery.

So that's a big job.

I studied parking decks two times, quiet railroad crossings two times, the possibility of a cemetery expansion, and downtown dumpster issues.

Thanks for public works for taking that off our plate.

I served on a committee that established bylaws for the creation of the Georgia Municipal Cemetery Association for people that run municipally operated cemeteries, and held offices in our district and state parks and recreation organization.

I issued hundreds of filming permits from TV commercials, TV shows, like an episode of Will Trent that'll be coming in just a couple of weeks, and uh feature films as well.

We've had a lot of big stars, Helen Mirr and Donald Sutherland, you know, Woody Harrelson, Jim Carrey, got lots of people in town, Justin Timberlake just down the street and was here for a show.

So that's always been interesting.

I haven't ever really hung around and tried to hobknob with them, but I can say that when Selma was being filmed, uh Ava Duvernay, who became an Academy Award-winning director, uh came up and shook my hand.

The best director.

It's been in town.

Of course, we had Oprah here for that as well.

So that was quite a quite a treat.

Uh during the past 30 plus years, I've worked with over 40 different department heads, including five police chiefs, and at least four others that became chiefs elsewhere by my count, three fire chiefs, five public works directors, five planning and zoning development services directors, four finance directors, four IT directors, five BLW board managers, and a variety of customer care, water department, and electrical department heads, two city clerks, two municipal court clerks, two probation officers, also two municipal court judges, two solicitors, uh 22 different council members, three mayors, and actually, I guess it was four because Mike Donahue was in presence today, so uh we have to include him.

Uh just two city managers, both named Bill.

Last 25 plus have been with Mr.

Bruden.

Thanks so much for your belief, your support.

There is one outlier.

We only had one city attorney, Mr.

Haney, during the entire time.

Uh my thanks go out to all the city departments.

We are no different than a football team.

We all have a position within a unit.

We are strongest when we work in a complimentary roles.

Large special events did not happen without almost every department having a role or employees from some departments who weren't assigned volunteering to work on the big days like the Fourth of July parade and the other things that go on.

In addition, I've had the good fortune to work with a lot of people and organizations, and I'm not gonna be able to name the name of every person in that organization.

That'd take too long, but I appreciate you, and many of them are here today.

First of all, the partners we have that take care of our properties, JP and Jennifer from Tennis Dynamics at Laurel Park, uh, the Pragos, Jay Andrews and their family at 643 that keep up our aviation sports complex like a major league field.

Uh Dave Coleman over at the Marietta Golf Center, which hosts just thousands of people over at that facility and had a top 100 in the nation uh driving range here right in town.

And then, of course, uh I guess the ones that I was closest to.

Guys at the city club.

Appreciate classic golf management and everything they've done, and then we'll see a lot of me.

I'm not done there.

I've worked with the local governments, authorities, and quasi-governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, again, many of whom are here today.

No specific order, Cobb County government, and worked with the parks, with the libraries, with the communications and channel 23 broadcasting the parade.

Also the economic development department, when we coordinate on film permits.

So I really appreciate working with all of them.

The Downtown Marietta Development Authority, the Marietta Development Authority, the Branding Project, the Marietta Arts Council, Marietta Welcome Center, now known as Visit Marietta, the Marietta Treekeepers, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta Farmers Market, Cobb Travel and Tourism and the Cobb Sports Council, Cobb Community Foundation, Cobb Collaborative, Cobb Douglas Public Health, the 2009 Parks Pond Advisory Committee, Police Athletic League, and Yells.

We had regular vendors we worked with, and some of them have been like an institution, Johnson Control, and Lee, who helps us here.

Our custodial services.

David Freeman's here today.

He did uh engineering on a number of these Parks Bomb projects, and we certainly appreciate the work he's done.

I guess while I'm on that, uh I have to thank Rich Deckman.

Uh for what we accomplished with the Parks Bond.

He's been just a real asset to the city, not just for that, but I mean he touches many, many departments here.

And uh his name will be not too far in the future, but uh appreciate it.

I had the pleasure of collaborating on projects and speaking to our local service clubs, the Civitans, the Kowana's Golden Cay, Lions Club, Marietta Metro Rotary, and working with other organizations and individuals that we collaborated on, which for events, parades, and more, uh, the NAACP, the SCLC, the DAR, the UDC, the SEV, the North Georgia Relic Hunters, and of course the folks at the Strand Theater.

And various youths from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Eagle Scouts, and we've done projects with every one of our universities, Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Chattahoochee Tech.

So we've really appreciated everything they've done there.

Also worked with all the major churches.

I mean, they've either provided a venue for us to park for parades, locations for films, uh, base camps for filming.

So I've had the great opportunity to work with all of them here in the downtown area in particular.

I'm sorry if I left anyone out.

I'm sure I did.

But thanks to all of you for your collaboration.

Suffice it to say, the job uh was never the same every day and was never boring.

I enjoyed working with everyone that made H Day different and special.

And I just want to take a moment to recognize some folks.

I don't know if some are still here.

Uh we had at least two parks and recreation directors here, one from Mackworth and one from Kennesaw.

Uh the president of our state association, the Georgia Recreation and Park Association was here, and I appreciate them coming.

I had a couple phone calls from folks that I worked with throughout the state that are there.

In fact, if I have a I have a few regrets, I know, but one is that I hadn't spent as much time working with our professional organization.

And when it got busy with all the buildings, I just kind of fell off the train with that.

But uh I was reminded on a phone call from the former director at Alpha Red and Sandy Springs that we do have a retiree uh section in the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association.

And the uh the president or executive director this morning informed me, it's only $15, so I think I can handle that.

Uh so maybe I'll be able to continue on with my cohorts.

Um course, none of this would have been possible throughout a terrific team of staff and former staff.

And if uh you worked for me or you are working for me, please stand up, give a wave something.

We really appreciate you.

We've really accomplished a lot.

I want to thank my siblings for being here.

It means a lot.

And to my immediate family who uh endured my occasional, well, let's be honest, frequent ranting and ravings about something that went on in the workplace.

Um, or the time spent alone at home while I was working nights and weekends.

Appreciate it.

Finally, thanks again to everyone for your attendance today and all your support over the years.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I look forward to seeing you around town.

We're still hanging around till about three, so uh please spend some more time with Rich and uh get to talk about the old times and his new times coming forward.

But uh there again, Rich, it's been a blessing having you here.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

That's it, my friend.

Thank you.

That was very good.

Thank you.

I mean, the way you did everything and laid it out there like that, that's awesome.

I appreciate it.

One of the better ones I've ever heard.

So