During his five-year-plus tenure as city manager, Rockdale made its first real strides toward fixing its water system, built a new police station, improved parks and took a fresh look at most facets of city government.
But what will Chris Whittaker most remember after he leaves that position on Friday, heading to his new job to be city manager at Angleton?
“There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “It will be the people of Rockdale. I will see the faces of so many here who worked to make this a better place to live and work.”
`WE’—In fact, the only pronoun which Whittaker will use concerning his accomplishments is “we.”
“So many of those things saw people get in there and work hard to make them happen,” Whittaker said.
I guess my goal, from the minute I arrived was to try and help Rockdale develop a sense of place, a point of pride, something unique.
There were a number of projects which were actually someone else’s idea and we all came together to make them happen.
Whittaker said Gary Griesbach’s quest for YMCA access led to that organization’s highly successful running of the city swimming pool.
He noted Jo Ann Bradford, Joan Ratliff and the late Matt Lehmkuhl’s efforts on behalf of Bridge Park, which saw two antique bridges, and a “calaboose” (primitive jail) set up in a previously unused flood plain in eastern Rockdale, just north of the Union Pacific tracks.
“And I know the new police station received a lot of input from many Rockdale residents,” he said. “I think the first time I heard it mentioned was by council member Willie Phillips.”
“That, of course, was something huge,” Whittaker said. “I don’t know how many people were really aware of the conditions at the old PD (former City Hall building 1895). It was moldy, it leaked. It was almost impossible to recruit any officers.”
The new facility opened last year at the corner of Cameron and Green, downtown.
MORE—Whittaker noted the Rockdale Masonic Lodge, Rockdale Rotary Club and Rockdale ISD assisted with getting ramps at the skate park on Mill Street.
Last fall the new splash pad at Sumuel Park made its debut and should be a popular gathering place this spring and summer.
And Whittaker was instrumental in obtaining a project to renovate blocks of downtown with new sidewalks and landscaping that should transform the area into a showpiece.
A first-ever sidewalk is planned between City Hall and the vicinity of Dollar General
It will be coordinated with a TxDOT highway improvement on US 79 which will include a new three-lane traffic pattern downtown.
WATER—But, of course, the biggest project during Whittaker’s tenure has been the plans to essentially replace the entire water and sewer systems.
Those projects total over $6o-million and cleared a major hurdle two weeks ago when the Texas Water Development Board announced Rockdale has been approved for low-interest loans, and what is essentially a grant, for about half the amount sought.
Whittaker knows water will probably be his “legacy” as he leaves Rockdale.
“I feel good that I’m leaving with this project well underway and that in the not too distant future this place will have a quality water system after all these years,” he said.
MORE TO DO—He is under no illusion that all Rockdale’s problems are solved, or even on the way to being solved.
“We just don’t have the money to do a lot of things,” he said.
Whittaker, and anyone who has driven on Rockdale’s streets, knows they are in need of major repairs.
“Of course, in order to start a comprehensive street repair program you’re going to have to wait until the new water lines go in,” he said. “Obviously you don’t want to put in nice new streets and come back a couple of years later and tear them up to put in water lines.”
TEAMWORK—Whittaker praised the work of city employees. “We have so many hard-working and dedicated people,” he said.
He says those are some of the faces that will be in his memory when he thinks of Rockdale.
“That’s what I will remember more than projects—and obviously those projects were important—the faces of all those who befriended me and worked together for a better quality of life in Rockdale,” he said.
He added: “I really like a quote from Walt Disney, that says pretty well what I feel about the past six years— ‘Whatever we accomplish belongs to our entire group, a tribute to our combined effort’.”
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