March 26, 2008
Contact: Pat Dodds, Public Affairs Officer, (480) 312-2336
Council to consider appointing John C. Little
as acting city manager
The Scottsdale City Council on Tuesday, April 1, will consider appointing John C. Little as Scottsdale’s acting city manager. The appointment will be on the agenda for the Council’s regular session, beginning at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd. If approved, the appointment would become effective April 2.
A 20-year city employee, Little’s career includes extensive experience in issues management, transportation and strategic planning, organizational development and communication. He currently serves as the executive director of the city’s Downtown Office, which he has headed since it was formed in 2004.
If his appointment is approved by the Council, Little will serve as acting city manager until the City Council completes a search and hiring process for a new city manager. It is expected a new city manager would be appointed sometime after a new City Council is seated next year. Members elected to new terms in the fall will be seated in January 2009.
Little’s appointment would leave the rest of the city’s leadership team – including assistant city managers David Ellison, Neal Shearer and Roger Klingler – intact.
Little has informed the Council that he will not be a candidate for the permanent city manager’s position.
Ellison has been serving as acting city manager on a short-term basis, as provided under a line-of-succession resolution adopted by the City Council in November. The Council on March 18 approved a separation agreement with former City Manager Jan Dolan, who had held the post since August of 2000.
Little began working for Scottsdale in 1985 in the city’s Organizational Development Office. He was later promoted to executive assistant to the Mayor and City Council and administrator of Organizational Effectiveness. Little left the city in 1996 to join a private consulting firm, where he worked with U.S. and international corporations. In 1998, he rejoined the city as senior executive assistant to the city manager. In April 2000, he became general manager of the Transportation Department. He is a two-time recipient of the Bill Donaldson Award, the highest honor for city employees.
Before coming to Scottsdale in 1985, he worked for the Metropolitan Transit Commission in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota as a transit analyst, manager of MetroMobility one of America’s first and largest dial-a-ride services and as the training and development specialist for the 2,000-employee regional transportation authority.
Little is active in the community professionally and as a volunteer. He has provided consulting and strategic planning services for Arizona State University, the Scottsdale Unified School District, the Scottsdale Education Foundation and the Scottsdale Cultural Council. In 1997, he served as president of Scottsdale Leadership, Inc. He also has been involved with local school districts, serving on a variety of boards and committees.
Little completed Arizona State University’s Advanced Public Executive Program in 1992 and attended the University of Minnesota, majoring in Urban Studies, from 1971 to 1976. He has been a featured speaker for various national professional associations.