Retiring City Manager Jim Pennington attended his final City Council meeting on June 4. Pennington, 71, served as city manager for more than four years.
Pennington in brief remarks at the outset of the council meeting thanked the council for his time with the city. Pennington emphasized the contributions and efforts made by city staff.
“I’ve had an incredible time and I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it. I wanted to say thank you to the city and particularly to the council and staff,” Pennington said near the close of the meeting, adding that his wife’s belief that the best thing about his retirement will be the anonymity that he will experience.
Pennington’s last day with the city will be June 12.
Pennington and his wife, Dee, who taught at Fayetteville Elementary School, will relocate to South Carolina to be near Pennington’s daughter and her family. Dee recently tendered her resignation from the Fayette County School System.
“It’s a decision my wife and daughter have been talking about for the last three years and my wife and I have been working on for a year and a half,” Pennington said recently. “In November we decided it was time.”
Reflecting on the decision to retire, Pennington said, “It was a hard decision. You put a lot into this job. My biggest problem, it’s a wonderful group of people and I think the world of them. I ask them, and they accomplish it. I’m very proud of them.”
Now age 71, Pennington said he has been involved “in this work for more than 40 years. Most of the things I wanted to accomplish in Peachtree City have been done and other things are in place.”
“The question was, when do you want to let go,” Pennington said of the conversation that led to the decision. With the decision in November, the couple found a house in South Carolina in December. “I decided in early March it was time to tell the City Council and Dee had to tell the school system.”
Pennington came to Peachtree City in March of 2011 with 32 years of experience as a professional city manager in several municipalities around the southeastern United States, including Hartsville, S.C., Lauderhill, Fla., Paducah, Ky., and Fayetteville, Ark.
