June Ellis, Beaumont's new Assistant City Manager
Courtney Pedersen/The Enterprise
Beaumont Enterprise
Megan Zapalac, Courtney Pedersen, Staff writer
Growing up in Lovelady, Texas, June Ellis wanted to be a professional basketball player, until he realized his dream to be President of the United States while attending Texas Southern University.
When Ellis started working as an intern for the city of Detroit in 1996, his dreams were further honed. He wanted to run a city someday as a city manager.
Ellis achieved that dream in June 2021 as the city manager of Haskell, Texas.
Even though his goal was to become city manager, Ellis decided to leave his position to become the assistant city manager of operations for the city of Beaumont, which he started as on Dec. 21, 2022.
"I was city manager for a smaller community, it's much smaller than Beaumont," Ellis said. "There's always things that a city manager has to deal with on a daily basis, but Beaumont has a larger community. There are more opportunities to advance my career as an assistant city manager as opposed to being a city manager in a smaller community. So that's why I took the assistant city manager position, because I feel it'll provide me with the experience that I need along my career path."
The Enterprise sat down with Ellis to talk about his experiences working for different cities and his goals while working for Beaumont.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about your career?
A: I started working in city government in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan, and I was there 10 years working for the city. I started out as an intern at the city, and they liked my work ethic and what I produced as an intern, and they actually asked me to come on full time. In 1996, I started full time and worked in the budget department there for 10 years. I had a really good work experience there. I was there for 10 years.
I'm not from Michigan and my dad passed away in Texas. So, I said it's time to come back to Texas and relocated to Pearland. I worked there for seven years (as a budget officer). I then worked for the city of Missouri City and I was budgeting and financial reporting manager for two and a half years. I had a small, short stay at the city of Sugarland for about five months as their budget officer. Then I went to Buda as the finance director there, which was a great experience for me in terms of career wise and growth in municipal government, but I wanted to elevate myself and reach my ultimate goal, which was to become a city manager and took a position at Haskell, Texas in West Texas and became their city manager. I worked there until I saw this opening here and Beaumont. I was there a year and a half (before) taking advantage of this opening.
Q: What are you most proud of in your career?
A: My background is finance, billing -- various finance positions. I'm most proud of all of my past jobs of being a good steward of the taxpayers' dollars, being part of city audits that were clean and unmodified. At every city I've worked for, we've had clean audits and I’m most proud of leaving those cities in a better financial position than when I got there.
Q: How is Beaumont different from other places you have lived and worked?
A: Every city has their challenges. (The) last city I was at, the biggest challenge was street infrastructure and roads. Another city, it was more drainage. Here, our infrastructure is older infrastructure, the water and sewer infrastructure is quite different here than other cities that I've worked for.
One of the differences, which is very positive, is the knowledge of the staff here. There are a lot of employees here that have 15, 20, 30 years of experience and that makes a big difference when it comes to being able to get things done and knowing the history of certain things. You can fall back on those employees who were here when certain things took place.
Q: What is it like getting to work with City Manager Kenneth Williams again?
A: It's really exciting, and I say that with a smile on my face because I worked with (him for) five years. I know the type of leader he is, I know what his expectations are, I know his style and it was something that when I was at the city of Buda I immediately adjusted to.
Since being here over the last month and a half to two months, it's the same style, it's the same. In terms of getting acclimated to this job, it makes it a lot easier knowing that the city manager is someone that I've worked with before and I can easily adjust. This is checking one thing off the list of being more comfortable in the position.
Q: What are you most excited about working in Beaumont?
A: (I'm) really excited about the future and the opportunities to create positive change here. I get a sense of excitement among staff, among the public about the change here and leadership, the new city manager, the new organizational structure with the assistant city managers. I'm excited about what we can do because I feel we, we meaning the executive staff, can do a lot to improve the city working along with city council and other key stakeholders in the city and I just look forward to seeing things come to fruition here, over the coming months and years. I'm excited to be part of that and I know great things will happen because that's what I would like to do and see is make things happen here that are in line with city council's goals and priorities.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish as the new assistant city manager?
A: Growth and development of the city. Growth in terms of not just population, but growth in new revenue, new businesses, new subdivisions, new staffing to help get a lot of the projects done that need to be accomplished. More collaboration with key stakeholders like county and state and federal representatives to produce some positive results here.
Q: What do you want the people of Beaumont to know about you?
A: That I'm a people person. I'm willing and always willing to hear what some of the issues are, to listen to the citizens to try to resolve issues that they have. I'm dedicated to Beaumont and I will always be dedicated Beaumont, to help the city become what we all want it to be. I'm just an everyday guy, it's kind of simple in a way but someone who's hardworking who wants to set goals and accomplish those goals.
megan.zapalac@beaumontenterprise.com
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courtney.pedersen@beaumontenterprise.com
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