BRAZORIA — Two months after City Council reassigned Mike Collard from city manager, he is reassigning himself out of Brazoria city government.

Council voted to shift Collard to engineering services director in early February, citing his expertise in that area and the value it would bring as Brazoria embarked on rebuilding its wastewater treatment plant and other major infrastructure projects. At the time, they also promoted longtime city secretary Sheila Williams to take over as city manager.

City leaders emphasized the change did not amount to a demotion but a reorganization to take advantage of employees’ strengths.

Collard could not be reached Monday for comment. Council will take up his letter of resignation when it meets at 6 p.m. today at City Hall, 201 S. Main St.

“He gave us the letter that he was resigning and it will be presented to the council to see if it will be accepted or not,” Williams said. “He has worked hard on all of the projects that we have and wish him the best for his future.”

Williams will assume oversight of the wastewater treatment plant project, which should be unaffected by Collard’s departure, she said.

“Our public works superintendent has been going out there and working with Collard for all of the facilities and getting it back to where it needs to be,” Williams said. “The public works superintendent is aware of what needs to be done; he will take that on while I’m looking for someone new. We are not going to stop improving the plant.”

Williams has been in contact with people who have project manager experience, she said.

“I’m sure Mike will let us know everything we need to make a decision on someone new,” Williams said. “We’ll be looking for the right person to work with Strand and the GLO with the other grants we have.”

Collard is very knowledgeable and the city is thankful for what he has done, Councilman Gary Kersh said.

“The city will move forward and we’ll do what we gotta do and we’ll find someone to replace him,” Kersh said. “We’ve made good progress moving forward.”

Collard was a first-time city manager when he came to Brazoria about 18 months ago, but had more than two decades experience in municipal government, including as the Neches River Authority utility director at the time of his hire. He had the dual role of city manager and public works director, and council determined it was too much for one person, Kersh said.

Raven Wuebker is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0152.