My Clearwater
After 20 Years, City Manager Bill Horne is Retiring
After serving dozens of mayors and
councilmembers in his more than 20 years as
City Manager, Bill Horne is retiring.
The life of a city manager is not one of glamour; it is one of
rolling up your sleeves and getting the job done for the good
of the citizens of Clearwater, Horne said. If you live that
philosophy every day, then after a long career it is a job well
done.
“What I’m most proud of is I’ve left the city better than
I found it,” said Horne, when asked about his biggest
accomplishment.
Horne’s longevity of 20 years as Clearwater’s city manager is
rare. The life span of a city manager typically is a few years,
and it is this longevity that is a testament to his leadership.
02 MyClearwater
From several fruitful successes to a range of crises throughout
his career, Horne has seen it all.
Throughout his term, Horne led the city through multiple
crises with skill and finesse. When taking office in 2000, he
inherited a roundabout with a fountain that blocked traffic
and a downtown with a Harborview Center building that
the public wanted torn down. He mitigated a cracked and
sinking bridge, Hurricane Irma, employee arrests, and the
first pandemic a Clearwater city manager has seen.
Through it all, Horne has remained a steadfast, strong leader
on whom residents and staff can rely. The city will miss his
steady hand and unwavering leadership.
It All Started in the Military
In 1971, William Burt Horne II graduated from the
University of Tulsa and the ROTC program, and he was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.
When promoted to a colonel in 1993, he was appointed as
the Support Group Commander of Yokota Airbase in Japan.
“That position is the equivalent of serving as a city manager
but on an airbase,” said Horne.
Yokota Airbase was home to an American community of
roughly 14,000 citizens. Managing its daily operations –
much the same way Horne does in Clearwater – was the
pinnacle of a long, successful, and fulfilling career of public
service.
“It was the most exciting time of my career,” he said. “As a
civilian, if I had a chance to serve as a city manager, I knew I
would in a heartbeat.”
In 1998, he retired and moved to Clearwater, where he was
hired as general support services administrator and assistant
city manager the next year.
A national recruitment was then held for a new city
manager. Horne applied and got the job. The rest is history,
as Horne would become the first African American city
manager for Clearwater and then one of the longest serving
city managers in the Tampa Bay area and state.